The fourth quarter quell
by The Lonely Geek
Summary: What if Katniss' rebellion had been crushed? This is what would have happened. It's 25 years after the rebellion and a new quarter quell. This time there are two twists. The first twist is that all tributes will be given a serum that makes them see all the other tributes as the same person. The second is that every time someone dies, the landscape changes.
1. Prologue

**This chapter is just introducing the quell idea, please leave a review and enjoy :D.**

 **President Trusta's POV**

It's nearly time to read out the card for the fourth quarter quell. It will be televised to all the districts, I hope there's no rebels still around. We were close to losing the last rebellion after Katniss Everdeen blew up the arena in the third quell. We managed to win though because the most important rebels made the mistake of hiding out and Tigris' shop. They thought Tigris sympathised with them. She didn't. When we killed them publically the rebels surrendered and agreed to the terms of the old peace treaty.

This is the first quell since the rebellion so we need to be careful, so we don't rile up any remaining rebels. This quell there will be two twists, one to remind them of the first rebellion and one to remind them of the second one. To remind them resistance is futile.

"You're ready to go live ma'am." The head peacekeeper says, and I stand up and go to the podium as the cameras start rolling.

"This year, to celebrate the 100th year of the hunger games, there will be a slight change in the rules this year." I open the envelope in my hands and look at it. I've already read it, to ensure there aren't any hitches. "This year, to remind you all of both rebellions, there will be two rule changes." I look up at the camera "Firstly, as a reminder of the dark days, all the tributes will be given an injection so that to each other, the tributes will look the exact same to each other. However, if you are watching on TV you will see them how they really are. This is to teach the rebels that you can't really trust any other rebels. The second change for this year will be that every time there is a death, the landscape of the whole arena will change." I smile at the camera "Happy hunger games, and may the odds be ever in your favour." This is going to be a good quell.

"Good afternoon President." Grayson, the head game maker, says as I walk into his office later.

"God afternoon," I say, sitting on a seat opposite her "Can I see the different landscapes you've got planned?" I ask.

"Of course, I can show you with the hologram if you want?" He replies.

"Yes, that would be better." He shoves open the door to where all the game makers are working. He taps some buttons and a huge hologram appears on a round wooden table. It is a forest with a huge clearing in the middle where the cornucopia is. Then it morphs into a huge desert. Next a replica of the Capitol. Then a tall volcano. Then a sea with islands dotted around. Then there are snow dunes all over the arena. Next it is a huge barren mountain. After that it is a corn field. Then there's an old abandoned city.

"During the bloodbath, are you going to change it at every death, or are you going to wait until the end and just change it once?" I ask, now it is a jungle.

"We haven't decided yet." He replies.


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

 **Aria's POV**

Today's the day. The day I've been waiting for my whole life. And training for. I've been training at the academy since I was ten. Before that, I was also practising throwing butter knives at the kitchen wall. I am the best female District 1 has to offer.

I crushed all the other opponents in the tournament to decide who the volunteer for this year will be. I don't think it being a quell will really hurt my chances. If anything, it'll make it easier to kill. I walk down the street to Flynn's house. He's going to be the male tribute this year. We go for a run together every morning, we're not close or anything, that would be stupid considering we're both going into the games. I mean he's going to be dead in a few weeks. I wonder if it will be me who kills him. I guess I probably won't know until the end of the games. We just train together, I mean it's easier to train together than alone, right?

"Ready for today?" He asks, I nod. I have to be. We run along past the mines together and along a footpath to the academy, then we run back to the huge sycamore tree by the far edge of District 1, and then to the square for the reaping. We're not bothering to change before the reaping, hopefully it will show sponsors our dedication.

My parents are proud of me for volunteering, they say it will definitely clear up any rumours lingering that they're rebels. The escort puts her hand in the female tribute bowl.

"I volunteer." I yell, before she can read the name out. She doesn't look surprised, here in 1, it's weird if there isn't any volunteers. I walk up onto the stage.

"And what's your name?" She asks.

"Aria Jula." I say, looking directly into the camera, before adding "And I'm going to be the victor of the 100th hunger games."

"Such confidence." Haley, the escort, comments "And now for the boys, but before she can even reach the bowl, Flynn steps forwards.

"I volunteer." He shouts.

"Well, two volunteers." Haley announces, well duh! "And what's your name?"

"Flynn," He glares at me "And I'm going to be the winner of the games."

"Ohh, district rivalry, I have a feeling these games are going to be epic." Haley says "Now shake hands." We reach across and I shake hands with his rough, calloused hands. We both squeeze hard, trying to squash each other's hand, and give each other an evil glare. Then we are led to our rooms where we have an hour to say our goodbyes.

"Aria, I'm so proud of you." My mum comes in.

"You're going to bring so much pride to our family." Dad is close behind.

"Thanks, it'll be easy, especially with the twists this year." I grin "It'll be easy to trick people."

"Good," My dad says "We have to go, we're quite busy."

"We'll see you in a few weeks though." Mum says, hugging me.

"Yeah, bye." I say, and they go out again. A few minutes later my best friend Ivana comes in.

"Hey, you looked good up there," She says "If I was a sponsor, I'd definitely have my eye on you."

"Thanks," I say.

"I might volunteer next year." She's one of the youngest in our year, so she'll still be in the reaping next year.

"Then I could be your mentor," I smile "And we could be neighbours.

 **Flynn's POV**

I wake up just after dawn so I go to the academy and practise, for next week. In a week or two, I'll be in the arena, and I need all the training I can get. I'm confident that I can win, I just want to make sure I'm as prepared as possible. I grab a sword and go to the metal dummies. They are almost impossible to break. In a few minutes, I am panting and the dummy only has a few scratches on to show all my efforts. After half an hour, there is sweat pouring down my body, so I decide to move onto something else: archery. It's one of my weak points. I only have 50% accuracy when I'm aiming at a moving target. After an hour of practise my aim has improved by 5%, I'll need to work on it a bit, but it's definitely getting there. I look at the clock and realise I'm due to go running with Aria, the soon to be female tribute going into the arena with me, in an hour. I jog home, eat a bread roll and then have a shower. Just as I'm pulling my jacket on, Aria knocks on the door.

Her long blonde hair is pulled into a ponytail and her green eyes are bright. She flicks her fringe out of her eyes. We both started training at the academy together when we were ten, and we know how each other fights well. I think I'm probably better at fighting overall though. I can use almost all weapons to a good standard, whereas she struggles with maces, slingshots and blowpipes.

"Ready for today?" I ask her, she nods. We've trained for this day our whole lives, and now it's finally here. We go for a long jog, then we just head down to the square, and sign in. The boys amongst me are looking enviously at me. I recognise one, he was the one I fought in the tournament final. He went down in twenty seconds. He was dumb. That's the thing, people think winning the games is all about brawn. It's not, it's about brain too. You have to be smart, to anticipate and block attacks, to know their weak spots. To outwit them. When Haley, the escort we've had for five or six years now, picks a name out of the bowl, she opens her mouth to read it, but someone else speaks.

"I volunteer." It's Aria. She goes up on the stage.

"What's your name?" Haley asks, once she's up.

"Aria Jula," Then she looks angrily down the camera "And I'm going to be the victor of the 100th hunger games." I nearly burst out laughing. She's not. I am. Haley goes to the male tribute bowl, and is about to put her hand in, when I step forwards.

"I volunteer." I shout.

"Well, two volunteers." Haley announces, when isn't there?"And what's your name?"

"Flynn," I glare over at Aria, she knows she was lying "And I'm going to be the winner of the games."

"Ohh, district rivalry, I have a feeling these games are going to be epic." Haley says "Now shake hands." We reach across and shake each other's hand, almost crushing them in the process. The whole of District 1 cheers and we are led off.

"Congrats mate." Harvey, my closest friend comes in "Good luck."

"Thanks." I grin, as we bump fists. This is going to be a tedious hour of goodbyes, but it'll be worth it.

 **Don't expect double updates every time, it's just because I started it today. I'll probably update once or twice a week. Please review. I'll leave a couple of questions below that you can answer in the comments, each answered question earns five points, which can be used to sponsor tributes later on.**

 **Do you think an outlying district may win because of the first twist (everyone looking identical so there can't really be alliances)?**

 **Who do you prefer, Aria or Flynn?**


	3. Chapter 2

**Sorry it's been so long since I've updated, I have no internet at home so I had to wait until the weekend so I could go to the library to update this. Updates will start to become more regular when it's April cos that's when I get internet back. Anways enjoy and please leave a review :D**

 **Chapter 2**

 **Elodie's POV**

"Please don't volunteer," My Mum says, as I go downstairs in my training gear at dawn.

"You can't stop me." I say, pushing past her.

"Please," She begs "You're brother volunteered when we were young and he died. I can't bear to lose both of you to the games."

"I'm not going to die though." I reply, grabbing my backpack and going out the front door.

"Please." She says. I ignore her and jog off. There is a light early morning breeze, making the air crisp and cold, so I jog swiftly to the District 2 training centre. I've been going her for six years, and I am the best fighter that goes. I'm going to be one of the youngest volunteers in the history of the hunger games.

When I get there my trainer is already there.

"Ready for today?" He asks.

"I was born ready." I grin "I can't wait to get into the arena."

"Spoken like a true tribute," He replies "Now, you can start with spears." Urgh. He knows I hate spears. I grab a short one and go about five meters away from one of the targets. I aim it and throw, it hits the third ring from the middle.

"Ten press ups." If I don't get the middle ring or the second ring from the centre I have to do press ups. I groan and get down on the floor. "Hurry up" He snaps, I push myself up into the first one.

"One sir," I grunt, he always makes me count, I go back down. Up. "Two sir," My upper core muscles are quite weak, despite all my training so by the tenth one my arms are in agony.

"Back to the spears." My instructor says, I yank the spear out of the target, aim and throw. This time I get the second ring. "Better." I pull it out, aim, throw. Second ring. Pull it out, aim, throw. Second ring. This goes on for half an hour. "Practise with knifes, hand to hand now." He says, I go to the knife table and grab two long curving knives, shove them in my belt, and then grab to shorter ones. My trainer, Craig, does the same. He jabs one of them in, I deflect it easily. He then does a volley of attacks which I also deflect, then I go in for a short jab in his ribs, he sees it coming and holds his knives there to deflect it. Then I quickly and gently, so as not to draw blood, stab his arm.

"One-nil to me." I grin.

"First to five?" Craig asks me. I nod, attacking again. It takes half an hour for me to eventually win five-three

"Better get ready for the reaping now." Craig says "I don't have time to say goodbye to you later so goodbye I guess."

"Bye," I say, I'll miss Craig in the Capitol he's been training with me since I started, but I'll see him in a few weeks. I turn out of the training centre, my forehead shining with sweat and jog back home. This will be the first time the sponsors will see me; the first impression means everything. When I get home my mum is out.

"I'm proud of you, you know." He says pulling me into a hug "Your mum doesn't think what you're going to do is a good idea, but it's your decision to make." I nod.

"I need to get ready now, I'll see you later." I smile, pulling away and going upstairs to have a shower. When I've done I put my hair up in a loose bun and put on my reaping outfit. I don't want to wear a silly dress, that's what all the girls do. It shows them as weak. I'm going to wear tight black jeans with a long t-shirt and a black leather jacket over the top. I want to look strong, but I don't want to look completely brutal. That gets the most amount of sponsors. Then I apply some eyeliner and pale lipstick and I'm ready to go. I slip my feet into short ankle boots and walk to the square.

I have to stand amongst all the girls my age, some come up to me and congratulate me. Others glare jealously at me. I can't wait. We have to watch the dumb video and then listen to a long boring speech from the mayor about how the games are to teach us not to rebel. Next a list of all our victors are read out. That takes a long time. We have 36. Only 23 are still alive though, and only 17 of those are able to be mentors. Finally the escort, I don't know their name, steps over to the female reaping bowl.

"Carrie Lilter." A small thirteen year old girl steps out and is about to walk onto the stage when I push past the girls nearby.

"I volunteer," I say, the girl carries on walking, maybe she didn't hear me "I volunteer." I shout it louder this time. The girl turns around and gives me the evils.

"I don't want her to volunteer for me." She says.

"I'm afraid, according to the rules, if someone that is eligible for being reaped in the same bowl as the chosen tribute, volunteers, the chosen tribute cannot stop them." The escort says in his squeaky voice.

"I hate you." She glares at me, as I walk past her onto the stage.

"I'm the selected volunteer from the training centre." I say, smiling sweetly at her. She walks back to her place, scowling.

"And what's your name?" The escort points the microphone in my face.

"Elodie Maya." I announce.

 **Julius' POV**

I was hoping for a lay in this morning, but I guess having seven younger brothers and three smaller sisters would make that impossible. I come from one of the poorest families in 2. Most of 2 is relatively rich, nothing compared to the Capitol, but compared to some of the other districts, we're wealthy. My parents though decided they wanted loads of kids though, so although they both receive high wages, there's never quite enough to go around. I take tesserae to make ends meet. This means my name's in three times because I have to, and thirteen because of my immediate family, but my aunt also has loads of kids that she can't afford and none of them are at reaping age yet, so I have my name in another eight times for then. In total my name's in 24 times. I'm fed up of my family though. They all depend on me, yet they give me virtually nothing in return. My chances of going to the games are high with my name in that many times, but someone would probably volunteer. Almost every year both our tributes are volunteer. I might volunteer today though, to show them all not to depend on me. I could pretend to the Capitol that I was doing it to help support my family. That'd get me sponsors.

"Julius, come and get your sisters dressed." Dad yells from the landing.

"I need to have breakfast." I call back.

"You can have it afterwards, I need you to sort them out now." I groan and go into my sisters' rooms. They are four, five and six. And a pain. When I walk in my eardrums literally burst from their high pitched squeals about what outfits they want to wear. Okay, maybe not literally, but it felt like it.

"Juli, Juli, I want to wear my pink dress, and my pink tights." Gaia screams.

"Don't yell." I grumble at her.

"I want this." A shirt is thrust in my face.

"Okay," I grab it and chuck it on the bed "I'll do it, when you've all calmed down." The squeal stops almost immediately I grab the shirt off the bed and start dressing my oldest sister.

It takes me nearly an hour to dress all three of them. I'm starving by then. I finally head downstairs and eat a bowl of mushed up heaty through grain.

"I'm going out now." I say to my mum after finally getting washed and dressed. I need time to clear my head and decide whether to volunteer or not.

"Okay," She says, trying to plait Gaia's hair "I'll see you after the reaping." She isn't concerned about me being reaped, if I am, someone else will almost certainly volunteer for me. I walk along the street and end up at the training centre in two. I've never been here before, but I decide to go inside. A tall girl dripping with sweat pushes past me as she goes out and I go in. I think she's the girl that's going to be volunteering.

"Can I help?" A trainer looks up at me. I shake my head. It's free to train at the academy, so it's not an issue me being here, but I want to see how good at I am on my own. I go over to the pile of spears sitting in a corner, and grab one. I aim at a target from about five meters, and throw it. I get the ring third from centre. Not bad for my first attempt. I grab it and throw it again, I practise for about five minutes, each time getting the third ring, and once even getting the second ring.

I decide I need to practise some other weapons before I volunteer. I grab a bow and a quiver of arrows. I aim at a target and miss. By the time my quiver is emptied of its 15 arrows there's a small ring of arrows on the second to last ring of the target. Maybe it's not my weapon. I grab some throwing knives.

I start throwing them at a target, I'm pretty good at them too. I don't have much time left to decide though. I head to the climbing wall, I'm pretty strong, and have good core muscles, so I scale it pretty quickly. I still don't know whether to volunteer or not, I have to head to the reaping now though.

I sign in and stand with all the boys my age. Most of them are standing with their friends and making bets on whose name will be picked. They're not concerned; they have no reason to be. I don't talk to anyone. I don't really have any friends, I'm a loner at school. I don't like talking to people. Or maybe it's because at home I can never get a word in edgeways. The escort picks the girl's name.

"Carrie Lilter." A small thirteen year old girl steps out and is about to walk onto the stage when I see a girl push past the girls nearby her.

"I volunteer," She says, quite quietly, the girl carries on walking, she probably didn't hear her, she was quiet "I volunteer." She shouts it louder this time. The girl turns around and gives her the evils.

"I don't want her to volunteer for me." She says. She's 13, she doesn't honestly think she's survive, does she?

"I'm afraid, according to the rules, if someone that is eligible for being reaped in the same bowl as the chosen tribute, volunteers, the chosen tribute cannot stop them." The escort says, excitedly, I guess this has never happened before. Well sort of. Apparently, at the 75th hunger games reapings in 12, when Haymitch Abernathy's name was called Peeta Mellark volunteered and Haymitch tried to stop him. We're not really supposed to talk about the 75th games though, or the rebellion after it, or the 74th games before it.

"I hate you." She glares at the girl, it's the girl I saw coming out of the training centre. The girl who volunteered says something quietly to the girl as she passes her on the stage. The girl scowls at her as she goes back to her place.

"And what's your name?" The escort asks her, shoving the microphone in her face.

"Elodie Maya." She announces, I've heard of her, she's supposed to be the best fighter at the training centre despite the fact she's only 16.

"Now for the male tribute," The escort makes his way to the male reaping bowl, and plucks a piece of paper out, he opens his mouth.

"I volunteer." I shout, I want to prove myself.

"Hey!" I assume it's the boy who was supposed to the volunteer. But the rule is, whoever volunteers first, gets to go in the games.

"Two volunteers, isn't this thrilling?" The escort looks way too happy about there being two volunteers, I mean it practically always happens "And what's your name?" He asks, thrusting the microphone at me.

"Julius' Maone." I say.

"District 2, put your hands together for your tribute in the 100th hunger games." The crowd erupts, this only happens in the Capitol and in career districts. We lean over and shake hands, she glares at me, as if to say, I don't think you'll last two seconds.

"How dare you?" The first person to be let in to say goodbye is the boy who should have volunteered. He is enormous, and right now I am regretting volunteering. He tries to slap me in the face, but I dodge and punch his nose. Bam! It connects pretty hard. There's a click, and he gives out a giant howl of pain. Blood spurts out. The peacekeepers hear and come in.

"What's going on here?" They ask.

"It was self-defence, he tried to hit me." I say quickly.

"I was supposed to volunteer, I was the one chosen by the training centre." He growled, ripping his jacket off and using it to slow the quench the steady flow of blood from his nose.

"Get out," The peacekeeper grunts at him, then turns to me when he's gone "I reckon you'll get punished enough if you survive, your district will hate you. Now keep out of trouble." He goes out and locks the door behind him.


	4. Chapter 3

**It's been a while since I've updated, sorry. I'll try and update before the weekend, but no promises. Please let me know what you think and enjoy :D**

 **Chapter 3**

 **Farah's POV**

Today the worst day of the year. The worst day of my life. It is my twelfth birthday, but it's also reaping day. I have to take tesserae to support my family, so my name is in a lot of times. My dad doesn't have a job; he stays at home and looks after my younger siblings. I work part time at the electronics factory when I'm not at school. My mum also works there, she works there full time. I barely ever see her because she works so hard to make enough money for us.

I step out my house, into the bitterly cold wind and walk to the justice building to sign up for tesserae; they'll probably get annoyed at me because they'll have to write my name more times before the reaping. Once I've signed up they'll give me five people's worth of grain and oil. It's not much, but it'll have to do. I'm already scared that my name will be called. If it is, I'm dead. I have very little chance of surviving, even though the careers won't be able to ally. They're still dangerous and won't know who's who. When I get back my mum hugs me.

"You didn't have to." She whispers into my shoulder.

"I know." I reply.

"You're so brave." She says "I've ironed your skirt and put it out for you." I nod and go upstairs. Laying on my bed is my hideous charcoal grey pleated skirt and a fresh white blouse. I change into them and brush my thick hair, then I head downstairs again. My dad is cooking a vegetable stew. It smells delicious. I walk into the kitchen, sniffing the air hopefully. He grins at me.

"Want a bowl?" He loves cooking and knows this is my favourite. I nod.

"Do you really have to ask?" I reply, as he takes it off the hob and pours it into three bowls. I notice my two younger sisters sitting in the kitchen.

"Did you really take tesserae for us?" Sophia asks. I nod.

"I want to make sure we have enough food." I reply.

"But what if you get picked?" Lisa asks, her eyes wide with fright.

"I won't my name's not in many times compared to some people." I take a slurp of stew. It's delicious and warm. I take another spoonful.

"But what if?" She persists. I pick up the bowl and drink the stew quickly.

"I won't." I stand up to wash my bowl.

"But what if?" She repeats.

"Leave it Lisa, Farah, I'll do that for you." My dad says.

"I'm going to the reaping now." I announce, putting my chunky, brown boots on and head out.

"Good luck," My dad replies "I'll see you soon." I nod and walk down the cobbled, windy street towards the main square where the reaping takes place. I have a prick of blood taken from me and then I'm directed to an area marked with a huge twelve. Everyone around me looks nervous. I try and make conversation with a couple of them, but they blank me. I guess we're all nervous. The escort wobbles onto the stage, with ridiculously high heels. The Capitol fashion just gets crazier and crazier.

Some idiot's gone and got himself a whipping today, if you get yourself a whipping on reaping day, you get your punishment in front of the whole district at the reaping.

After the reaping we watch some video about the dark days, my legs are starting to ache from standing up so long. Why can't they read the names already? The mayor says some long boring speech and then they finally announce that they're going to read the names out. The escort wobbles to the girl bowl. Please not me. Please not me. The odds have got to be in my favour.

"Farah Shortis." She reads out. The odds are never in my favour. I walk up to the stage. How will my sisters cope? I'm going into the arena, the odds are I'm going to die. I hope my family will have more money when I'm gone. Then my sisters won't have to take tesserae.

"We don't want your sisters to be upset, so we're not going to bring them." Mum whispers as she hugs me when saying goodbye later.

"Okay, when they're older remind them constantly that I love them." I say.

"You can tell them." She replies.

"No," I say "This is just in case. Don't pretend everything's going to be okay. It's not. I'm going to be in the hunger games," Mum breaks down "But that's okay. Lisa and Sophia will never have to take tesserae now. They'll almost certainly never be picked." Mum just clings to me harder.

 **Hank's POV**

It's my last reaping today thank goodness. I'm eighteen so it's the last one I can be in. My name's in loads of times though. Six because I have to, and three so I get three portions of tesserae. My brother will have to start taking tesserae. If he got reaped he'd probably have a better chance of winning than me. If I was reaped I'd probably only be able to win if I did something like my dad. My dad was Beetee Latier. Yup, the famous rebel Beetee Latier. He helped Katniss' rebellion but was pardoned from death due to his contributions to the Capitol. He's now an avox in the Capitol. Though to be honest, I'm pretty sure they rig the reapings sometimes so I have a higher chance of being in the games.

"Hank, hurry up." My mum calls. I'm daydreaming again. I do that a lot. Usually it's because I'm thinking about a quicker and more efficient way to use technology to do something. Most people think machines are something to be feared: I don't. They're a tool.

"Yes mum." I say, coming downstairs.

"Sorry honey, there's no breakfast today, they've cut my wages again." Mum says as I emerge into the kitchen. They keep doing that. My family and I are slowly starving. It'll be easier in a couple of weeks' time when I'm getting promoted so I'm not just getting paid minimum wage.

"Okay, do you mind if I go out until the reapings?" I ask. She shakes her head.

"You're a good boy Hank, your father would be proud of you." She smiles "I'll see you later." She never talks about the hunger games. She refuses to watch them, or let us watch them. There's usually not much point after the first day anyway. Our tributes normally die in the bloodbath. A few years back I remember one of our tributes made it until the final three. And then the Capitol decided they wanted one of the two remaining careers to win so they sent an avalanche to kill her. She spent half an hour shivering in the freezing snow before she finally suffocated. Her parents were shot for complaining to the Capitol that they had rigged it. They always shoot people at the slightest sign of rebellion.

I step outside, the sun is shining and there are a few white fluffy clouds dotted around the sky. I wander through my district, I like just wandering. It gives me time to think. I don't really get much time to think at home. I'm usually helping my mum or arguing with my brother. Suddenly someone shoves into me so that I fall into a peacekeeper.

"Oi." I shout, but the person's disappeared into the crowd.

"Who are you saying oi to, young man?" The peacekeeper booms.

"Er, sorry sir. Someone pushed me." I stammer, hoping it's one of the nicer peacekeepers.

"You know attacking a peacekeeper's a punishable offence?" He shouts, the crowd starts staring.

"I'm sorry sir, I didn't mean to. Someone shoved me." I try to back away, but he grabs me.

"I think a little whipping will do you some good." He growls.

"Please sir, I'm sorry sir. It won't happen again sir." I beg. I had a whipping when I was thirteen for being in a class where someone said something against the Capitol.

"You're right it won't, once you've had a dozen of the best." The peacekeeper grins evilly. He drags me to the square where the reaping will take place later on. There's a rule in district 3, that if you commit an offence that is punished by whipping on reaping day, your punishment is done at the reaping. I watch as they drive a post into the stage, then they put some chains around the bottom and tie me to it with them.

I hope I don't cry. I won't be able to look anyone in the eye for days. My stomach starts to rumble as the morning goes on.

"Shut it." The peacekeeper guarding me snaps. When it carries on he kicks me. I curl up trying not to cry out at the agonising pain running through my chest.

As the sun gets higher in the sky, the square starts to fill up with more people. At exactly two pm our escort walks onto the stage and she smiles at the audience gawping at me.

"Well, we have a treat for you today. A whipping to start off with, then a video all the way from the Capitol." She beams. No one else looks excited. I am forced to stand and the peacekeeper I was shoved into walks onto the stage. He rips my shirt off. It's my only decent one as well and he pulls his leather whip out.

"This boy is getting twelve lashes today for attacking a peacekeeper. Today we are being lenient, normally this punishment would be at least double." He announces. He unties me from the chains and shoves my stomach against the cold metal post. I cling on with my hands. Swish. Swish. Swish. I can feel blood starting to trickle down my back. Swish. Swish. Swish. Swish. Swish. Swish. I whimper in pain. Swish. Swish. Swish. A tear trickles down my cheek and they shove me off the stage as the video starts and I am in my pen by the time it finishes. The speech from the mayor is as boring as usual. Then the girl name is called.

"Farah Shortis." They say. It's a 12 year old.

"Twelve." The girl whispers into the microphone when the escort asks her how old she is.

"Now, for the male tribute." The escort announces, wobbling to the other side of the stage. Please let it not be me. Please not me "Hank Latier." Of course. I've always thought the reaping is rigged, and now this confirms it. I go up. I hope I can make my dad proud.

"Am I right in thinking you're the son of the famous Beetee Latier that was in the rebellion?" The escort asks me. I nod. "Well sponsors will certainly keep their eyes on you." She smiled encouragingly. Or the president will have her eyes on my to make sure I die, and any hope of a revolution dies with me. In 3, there are lots of rebels who try and get me to join their pathetic rebellions so that more people will join because I'm related to one of the most famous rebels in history.


	5. Chapter 4

**Does this chapter being over 2k words make up for not updating in a few days? I meant to update yesterday but I was ill. I'll try and update again at some point over the weekend.**

 **Chapter 4**

 **Isla's POV**

Today is the day I bring pride to my district. Today is the day my family will finally love me. Today is the day I volunteer.

I don't particularly want to. It might make my parents be proud of me though. They've forced me to attend the academy ever since I was old enough. I suppose I could have done terrible so they would know that if they forced me to volunteer I would go to my death. I wanted to make them proud though. I've always been a disappointment to them though. Always. I was always overshadowed by my twin – Antony. He was always amazing at everything. School work, cooking, running, archery, you name it, he could do it. I'm more of a dreamer. I do things at my own pace. Some just say I'm slow.

Anyway, I always tried at the academy because I hoped one, maybe one day, I'd be better at something than Antony. I never was. He volunteered last year. He was 2nd. A mutt killed him. My parents blamed me. Said I should have volunteered too. They always loved him more than me. They only wanted one child. They always only ever wanted a son: a strong son that would make them proud. I guess they figured I was part of the parcel. So I'm volunteering. Maybe then they'll finally be proud. If I win they'll be proud if I die, then at least they won't have to live with me disappointing them.

"Hurry up." Mum says as I chew slowly on the soggy bread in my mouth "I need you to buy some stuff for me before the reaping." She always got me to do the chores. Never Antony, he was always too busy, too bust training. I'm fed up of her though.

"I need to go to the academy to get some more training in though." I protest.

"You're never going into the games," Mum contradicts "There's always a volunteer." I don't think she realises that's me.

"Fine." I huff, swallowing my mouthful and picking up the money on the side for the shopping.

"Don't have that attitude with me young lady." Antony didn't get in trouble for far worse. I ignore her and go out the front door. "And don't be hours, there's the house to clean too. I have to go out." Of course. She's allowed to go out, but not me. I mean I'm irrelevant aren't I? I can't have plans for what I want to do.

I walk down the street towards the outer square. We have two squares in 4: one for the minor market stools and one for the big ones. The big ones' are in the main square which is where the reaping takes place so it'll be closed today.

Grey clouds are swirling overhead; there's a storm coming. I can feel it. It'll be here by tomorrow, probably. I won't be around to find out. Soon I am walking back to my house carrying several brown paper bags of shopping. I unlock the door and find the house empty. Good. I unload the shopping and head to my favourite part of 4. In 4 we are lucky, we are by the coast. I guess that's why we're the fishing district.

I'm soon there. I take off my jacket and lay it down on the smooth pebbles and lay on top of it, gazing out to sea. I think I'm the only person to have ever discovered this cove. At least, I've never seen anyone else here before. I love it here, no one ever disturbs me.

I watch the bluey grey waves rush up the beach and back again. I wonder what's out there. If anything. The Capitol say that there were other countries once and then there was a war. Countries against countries. Humans against humans. Friends against friends. The Capitol says the rest of the world is covered in nuclear radiation. The rest of the world is either dead, or in nuclear bunkers until the air is safe to breathe. America, the country we now call Panem, went underground, pretended they were wiped out, until the fighting stopped. Then Panem rose out of the ashes of the old world and they created the Capitol and the districts. Then there was a rebellion and District 13 was destroyed. Then there was the second rebellion and District 12 was also obliterated.

I think the Capitol lie to us. I think they just want to have power. One day I might steal a boat and go out to sea. I'd never return. Okay maybe I would. I'd probably be caught by the peacekeepers who patrol about 300km from shore. To 'protect us', the Capitol claims. They just want control. Maybe it is to protect us, but let us decide that, not them. They say our payment for giving them fish is giving us protection, peacekeepers. We don't want them though. We want more money. I know 4 is quite a rich district, but compared to the Capitol, we're nothing, compared to the Capitol, we live in complete poverty. They go hunting for fun. In some of the outlying districts, I'm pretty sure some of them risk the death penalty by hunting every single day just so they have enough to survive. They usually have barely even that.

I realise I've been here longer than I've meant to and I need to head to the reaping. I never did get some extra training in. Oh well. My parents are about to get the shock of their lives. Every year until now, they've always checked out the boards outside the academy that say who the male and female volunteers will be. Last year there was a photo of Antony on the boy side. This year on the girl side is a picture of me; they didn't bother finding that out though.

I'm ticked off the list of thousands and head to the section that has a huge '18' over the top. A couple of the girls I'm standing amongst recognise me from my picture and wish me luck or congratulate me. I don't know any of them.

The mayor for District 4 then comes onto the stage and reads out the treaty of treason. His voice is so boring and monotonous. He then introduces Boo, our new escort. She's even worse than the last one. They're always loud and bouncy, they just sound dumb in their high squeaky Capitol voice.

"Ladies first." She announces and puts her hand in the clear bowl on the left hand side of the stage and opens her mouth.

"I volunteer." I yell, pushing through the girls nearby to go to the front. I walk up to the stage, and my district watches me. Somewhere in the background I can hear my dad saying.

"Why is she embarrassing us like this?"

"And what's your name sweetie?" Boo asks.

"Isla Hunt." I reply.

"Not related to the famous Antony Hunt, last year's almost winner are we?" She asks, I can tell she's not expecting me to be his twin sister. We looked nothing alike.

"He was my twin." I answer. She looks delighted.

"Oh, isn't this wonderful. Did you decide to volunteer to finish what he couldn't complete?" She asks, smiling broadly at this bit of gossip.

"No." I reply, and at this point the mayor coughs pointedly so Boo has to continue with the reaping.

"Now for the males," She totters on her ridiculously high heels to the male reaping bowl, she delicately lifts a slip out and opens it "Alexandre Do-"

"I volunteer." Phoenix, the elected boy tribute yells. He swaggers up and tells the district that he's gonna win, then we have a finger crushing handshake and are led off the stage.

"What was that?" My mum storms in.

"Look at the board outside the academy." I reply. Just like I thought, they hadn't bothered checking.

"What do you mean?" Dad asks, amazed.

"I mean," I start, talking really slowly like they were 5 "I crushed the rest of the girls entering to see who was the best female candidate for these games."

"B- but you were never any good." Mum stammers. I glare at her. Can they not be happy for me, even once?

"I was, he was just better." I reply coldly "You never listened to what my trainer said, only his."

"That's not true." Mum argues. But we all know it is.

 **Phoenix Gab's POV**

I can't wait until the reaping's over, and training starts. I've heard the equipment at the Capitol is so much better than in 4, and I want a bigger advantage as possible. There won't be an alliance this year. There almost always is amongst us careers, but due to the quell it'll be almost impossible this year. It usually falls apart after the first five days or so anyway, sometime earlier. It's because they don't just keep the strong ones. They'd work for much longer if they did. Brute strength always wins. Everyone knows it. They should just kill the weak ones in the alliance before they manage to get anyone else killed. It's logical.

"Morning." I say to my younger brother as I go downstairs.

"Hey." He yawns. He's never really been a morning person "Are you actually going to volunteer?" He sounds concerned. That's unusual he's usually annoying me to death.

"Yeah." I say, pouring a high energy juice drink that the academy's been giving me for months to help keep me fit.

"Please come back." He says. I smile, downing it in one. It's deliciously cold.

"Yeah." I reply "Anyway, I have to come back so I can beat you in a swimming race again don't I?" He scowls. He's really dumb. He always challenges me to swimming races despite the fact I've been swimming for ten years longer. It's pretty funny really.

"I will beat you one day." He replies.

"I've gotta go now, training." I grin, and ruffle his curly brown hair. He scowls some more, he hates it when I do that. "See you later, you'll come say goodbye?"

"Of course." He narrows his eyes "Can I go without mum and be your first visitor?"

"Mum or dad will have to take you to say goodbye, but yes you can come in before either of them." He always like to be first to do something and I guess this is no different. I'll miss him while I'm in the Capitol. It's only for a month or two though. I go outside, the air is dense and grey, a storm's brewing.

It doesn't take me long to jog to the academy, I'm quick and I've been going ever since one of the trainers there saw me punching his son in the face and giving him a nose bleed when I was 8. I did have a good reason: he was being a jerk. He said that with training I could very easily become a victor. I accepted his offer immediately. Well, immediately after my school principal told me if I didn't take the offer I'd be expelled for fighting on school premises. I love it now though. And it has meant I've had two years more training than most people.

I start off on axe throwing. It's my only weakness. I only get 80% accuracy. On everything else I have 95% or above. I'm surprised Isla, the selected girl volunteer, isn't here. I think she has issues at home though. Her brother volunteered last games and died. I'm not sure she's fully dedicated on the games though. It'll make her an easy target.

"Hey lil' bro." I grin at Jamie, my younger brother. The reaping went as planned, all I have to do now if say my goodbyes and I'm off to the Capitol.

"Will you take this as your token?" He asks, handing me a picture he's drawn of me and him. I'm just a tall fat blob and he'd a small fat blob.

"Of course," I lie, if the Capitol find out that's my district token no one'll want to sponsor me "I'll keep it in my pocket so it doesn't get wrecked." I fold it up and tuck it in my pocket as the peacekeeper comes to get him out.

"Bye." He says.

"Keep practising your swimming and you might even come close to beating me when I return." I laugh as he turns "See you later."

 **Okay, I forgot to do the questions for the last two chapters but here's the questions for this one. Remember more questions you answer the more expensive sponsors you can give to you favourites**

 **Which career is most likely to win and why?**

 **Do you think Jamie would volunteer to follow in his brother's footsteps?**

 **Also please drop a review and tell me what you think. Remember more reviews=happy me=more updates=happy you. Also regular reviewers will probably have their favourite tributes stay in longer. I don't know who's going to win yet and I'll probably let you guys decide.**


	6. Chapter 5

**I've decided I'm going to start doing the reapings a bit differently, they're not going to be as long because I find them so tedious to write, and when I'm reading a fic I skip the reapings because they're boring, so I'm making them 500 words max so you get an idea of what each character is like without being bored to death, it means that in a chapter I'm doing four tributes, so we should be able to whizz through the reapings. Enjoy and please drop a review.**

 **Chapter 5**

 **District 5**

 **Daria's POV**

I couldn't sleep last night, so I curled up in my older sister's bed. Hallie stroked my hair gently and whispered quietly, she's always looked after me. My other siblings just see me as the baby of the family. Another mouth to feed. Hallie understands me though. She's always nice to me. Finds time to help me. I know I'm not really supposed to have favourite siblings, but she is.

"Shh darling, you're not going to get picked." Today's my first ever reaping day and I'm terrified I'm going to get picked. I have four siblings including Hallie. She's the youngest other than me at nineteen. All the others are in their early twenties. It means my name's in the bowl seven extra times. I know the odds are still in my favour. It's about 10000 to 8. It's not going to be me. It's the waiting that's worse than anything. Not knowing. Knowing there is a chance. There's a chance for anyone and everyone.

If I was reaped I wouldn't stand a chance. I'm just an innocent girl. I've always hated the games. I think they're evil. The Capitol should have punished the rebels, not us children. If anyone suggested that the Capitol kids should fight to the death while we all laughed at it and made bets on the winners, we'd be called sick.

"Daria Laly." Shock jolts through me as my name is called. There has to be a mistake. It can't be me. It is though. Stunned, I stumble up, I can hear Hallie crying. I'm crying. What did I do to deserve this?

"Find strong allies." Hallie says, coming in as soon as visitors are being let in to say goodbye "Not careers though, maybe one person who's physically strong and someone who's good with herbs." She smiles gently "You're smart, maybe you can make this." I shake my head, we both know she's trying to make me feel better about dying.

"Hallie, will you do something for me?" I ask, I don't want her to see it.

"Anything."

"Don't watch. Any of it. I don't care if I'm in the final two. I don't want you to watch. I don't want you to feel you have to. You shouldn't have to watch me suffer. Just watch the summaries at the end of each day so you'll know if I'm okay."

"Are you sure, I want to make sure you're okay?"

"There would be nothing you could do. You'd just worry. And don't mope around." I manage a weak smile "I love happy Hallie, I'm probably going to die, remember I love you and always remember me, but don't turn into one of those people who never move on."

"I won't." She says.

"Promise." I press her. She holds her pinkie finger out.

"Pinkie promise." We shake fingers, just then she is dragged out. I wonder if it's the last time she'll see me.

 **Callum's POV**

It's my last reaping today. One last chance of being picked. I'm lucky, I don't have to take tesserae. My chances are slim, compared to others. Every year I try to save a bit up for the games. I like to sponsor. I'm not one of those people who spends thousands, don't get me wrong, I don't have that sort of money. Just a bottle of water or something. Only for the District 5 tributes though. If I think it's worth it. I don't like the games, but I want them to suffer as little as possible. Remember a couple of years back, the girl who was dying of hunger? She got a sponsor of a loaf of bread, that was me. Pity the careers killed her a couple of days later. She was smart. She could have won, if she'd had a decent weapon instead of a makeshift spear.

"Spare some change?" An old man holds his hands out "Please, surely today you have something to spare." I have a couple of coins in my pocket so give them to him. He's probably dying anyway. I always try to help the poor. I'm not exactly rich though.

"Here." I smile.

"Thank you kindly sir." He smiles back, revealing half his teeth missing or rotting "Good luck at the reaping."

"Thank you." I reply, and I mean it. A small twelve year old girl is chosen, I feel sorry for her, but even if I could volunteer, I wouldn't. I think I'll sponsor her a bit though. She cries when she goes up. Then the escort walks to the other side of the stage. Her hand digs in the bowl. The odds are in my favour.

"Callum Darlo." Seriously? Maybe I won't be sponsoring her. I walk up, I might try to ally with her. She'll probably be looking for them, I like the look of her. She'll probably trust me more than someone from another district. I'm not sure I could kill her if it was just us two though.

No one will come to say goodbye. I left my parents when I turned 17 and haven't been back since. They were useless. I got a good job though, and I've managed well enough on my own until now.

 **District 6**

 **Attaya's POV**

I love the feeling it gives you. Freedom. Like anything is possible. I always get really drugged up on reaping day. To try to distract myself. It's a tradition between me and my mates. We've always done it. We also have a pact that if one of us goes into the games, we'll all pitch in to sponsor them morphling. So they can die free. So they won't feel it. It's never happened, it's a just in case scenario. We all live together, with Callie's older sister. We work long hours to make sure we have morphling money. It's worth it.

Once we've checked in at the reaping we talk quietly in section labelled with a big '14'. I hate it here. I'm very claustrophobic. I'm packed among so many people, I can barely breathe, even with me more relaxed than usual, being high on morphling.

"Attaya Vant." Are you kidding me? I only took out one tesserae. My friends pat me sympathetically, but we're never hysterical. We don't see the point. I go up, barely aware of doing it. My senses are dulled by the morphling. It makes everything seem blissful: just pure bliss.

"We'll sponsor if we can." May smiles, hugging me as she and Callie come in. I look at the three of us in the mirror on the wall. We all look very similar. Small, bony and white. We've looked like this for as long as I can remember. Loads of people look like this in 6. It's the effects of the morphling, it's worth it though. It's one of the few luxuries we get. They can't stay long, the peacekeepers soon tell them they have to go.

I am left on my own. With my own thoughts. Bliss. I know I have no chance of winning, but who cares? Morphling completely wrecked my body, but for living my entire life in bliss and freedom up to this point. I think it was worth it. Maybe I'll run from the cornucopia to a quiet area and use all the morphling at once. That would be good. I'd die happy at least. Then I'll be in paradise once more.

 **Vincent's POV**

I wake up feeling sick. It's reaping day. It's my little brother's first reaping as well. We've divided the tesserae we take up between us. If his name is called I'm not going to volunteer. Don't think I hate him or anything. We get on really well, it's just, well, I'm not ready to die. There's got to be more to life than just this. Just working in District 6, people from the Capitol are lucky, they don't have hard jobs and get paid high wages. Here in the districts we have long hard and physically draining jobs, and we get paid very little. Just to survive, us kids have to sign up to put our name in a bowl more times so we have a higher chance of being picked to be thrown into an arena where it's kill or be killed, just so we have enough food to eat. The Capitol chucks food away. The Capitol have so much money to spare they sponsor people in the hunger games, so that their favourites have a better chance of winning. They're sick. Most of them, I can't account for the whole Capitol, that would just be wrong.

The games are illogical anyway. It was the rebels who should have been punished, not some random kids, most of which were probably picked because they can't afford food, 125 years later. That is literally what the Capitol is doing today. It just angers me.

"Attaya Vant." The escort reads out, it's some 14 year old morphling addict. We have a lot of them in 6. It's not a bad solution. Get drugged up so life seems enjoyable. I tried it once, I didn't like the feeling of total happiness, it felt too fake. I get why some people do it though. It's time for the male's reaping now. It's my second to last year. Please not me. Please not Brennan. I don't have any male friends, they're all girls. Some of the guys tease me, but I just get on with girls better than guys, and I really don't see what the issue is. Her hand is in the bowl. Not me or Brennan. Her mouth opens to read the name out. Not me or Brennan "Vincent Poyola." I'm going to die. I'm going to die. I just hope it comes quickly.


	7. Chapter 6

**They're all quite short, even for this new way I'm trying it out, but the two tributes from 8, I felt if they weren't short they'd be almost identical. Please drop a review, it may save your favourite tributes life later. What blackmail, me? Never. Well maybe, if it gets reviews from you guys. I've only had 1 so far, so thank you to the guest who left it. I'll leave some questions at the bottom for you to answer in the reviews that will earn you points for you to sponsor tributes later on.**

 **Chapter 6**

 **Ciaran's POV**

I think the quarter quell rules will make it an interesting game. When I say interesting, I don't mean it like the Capitol do. I mean it like a district other than the careers will actually have a chance this year. Finally, 7 might have a winner. Well I say finally, we have had winners, but not many. There's only been 2 female ones, and one was publically executed in Katniss Everdeen's rebellion – Johanna Mason. The other is seriously weird. She won when she was sixteen, but a few months after she won, a rebel shot her whole family. She refuses to go outside now, she doesn't even mentor. She refused to go on the victory tour even. Rumours have it that it wasn't really rebels but President Trusta. I don't know if it's true or not.

I have a really high chance of being reaped. I have a dad who's always too drunk to hold down a job and so pays for his alcohol with all my mum's wages. This basically means, I have to provide everything for my family. Most of the money from my job pays for clothes and water, but I have to take a lot of tesserae. Two for each person. Did I mention I have 8 younger siblings? All below reaping age. My grandma also lives with us, so that's two for her as well. Twenty four times. That's how many times my name is in, and that's not including the compulsory times. I'm eighteen, so that's another seven times my name's in. Basically meaning my name's in 31 times, so I'm one of the most likely boys to be picked.

If I am picked, I won't hesitate to kill. I don't want to, but I do want to go back home alive, and the only rule in the arena is kill or be killed. It's just how it works.

"Bea Nightingale." The escort calls. I don't recognise her. Her hair is matted and has leaves entwined in the knots. "Ciaran Kilops." The escort reads, holding the slip delicately in his smooth dyed green hands.

I was kind of expecting it, my name was in so many times. I just hope my siblings are okay while I'm away. Without me there to calm him down, my dad might start hitting them. What will they eat? I provide most of the food. Tala will have to get a job, she's only 10. I know I have to come back, because otherwise, my whole family dies. They can't survive without me. I have to win.

 **Bea's POV**

Today's the one day I go into the main part of 7. I've lived amongst the trees since I was eleven. I ran away when I saw my mum stab my dad to death. I've never been back. My mum thinks I died long ago. I don't know why she did it, and I probably don't want to.

I've survived pretty good on my own. I don't go to school, I work instead. I also hunt a little. I mean what's the point of squirrels if you can't eat them? I only have to look after myself and my job and hunting more than pays for me. If I have the option between hunting and buying food, I always choose hunting. You never know when you'll need those skills, or the money. I hunt quite often, it means I have quite a stash of money, when I'm eighteen I might even have enough to buy my own place.

My name's in the bowl six times. I think I'd have a decent chance in the games if I was reaped, I'm one of the many lumberjacks in 7, so I can wield an axe well and I can climb trees and hunt. I think this year would be the easiest to win. The quell will stop any alliances forming. It'll mean I won't get ambushed by a pack of careers. I wouldn't mind that much if I was reaped, if I was from a career district, I'd probably volunteer.

There's a new escort this year. He has dyed himself a hideous puke green colour, it makes me want to gag just looking at it.

"Ladies first." His voice is husky, he walks to the reaping bowl on the left of the stage. "Bea Nightingale." Guess I'll find out if I really can win the games. I'm kinda hoping I can.

 **District 8**

 **Helena's POV**

I think if I got chosen, I- I don't know what I'd do. I hope Hecate wouldn't volunteer, I don't mean it nastily, but I wouldn't want him to die to. Hecate's my fiancée. We're getting married in a couple of days. I can't wait. But first I have to get through the reaping. Hecate and I both have a slim chance of being picked. Our names are both in seven times. That's the most it will ever be, it's our last reaping. We'll escape it, if all goes well. We've already decided we're not having kids. We don't want them to even have a chance of going in the hunger games.

Hecate smiles at me from the other side of the square. I don't know if I'd be able to kill in the hunger games. I don't think I could. Unless they attacked me first, but I'd be more likely just to injure them and run. If they were really injured I might, to put them out of their misery. I think I might be able to do that. I'm not sure. I don't know if I have it in me; to kill another human being. Some of the previous victors from 8 have said, if they could, they'd go back and do things differently. Not kill people. It takes something from you, killing they say, and you never get it back. You can never un see the light fading from their eyes.

I think if Hecate was reaped, he might be able to win. He's not very strong though. He is smart, and I think for this quell, that's all that matters. You need to be able to adjust easily, to the changing landscapes. I wouldn't cope well with that aspect, I'd probably end up being in a tree and so when it changed, end up falling into the sea and drowning or something. It's be pretty funny, if I didn't end up dead of course.

I smile back at Hecate and mouth good luck.

"Helena Kils." No! Hecate will volunteer now. I go up, please don't Hecate. At least, if I win, we can still marry, just a little later. Please don't let him volunteer. "No for the males." The escort walks to the male reaping bowl.

"I volunteer." Hecate shouts.

"NO!" I scream "You can't."

"Miss Kils, I'm afraid you can't stop him, why do you want to?" The escort looks at me.

"Because he's my fiancée, and I'd rather die than know it was my fault he went into the arena." But it's too late, Hecate is on the stage, I can barely see him through the tears streaming down my face. We shake hands and he gives me a sad smile and whispers.

"I'll always protect you."

 **Hecate's POV**

I try to distract myself by thinking about the wedding. Helena's dress. I can't think about what might happen instead. The cake, it's only a small one, it's all we ca afford, but it has Mr and Mrs Filt written in swirly blue writing. Blue's Helena's favourite colour.

That's the colour of her dress. In most places, white is traditional, but in eight, it's the bride's choice. Helena chose blue. It's a lovely bright blue, like a day when the sun is shining and there are puffy little white clouds in the sky. My suit is pale blue to match, with a black tie. We'll look perfect. It'll be perfect. Helena is perfect.

The escort totters on her, way too high, heels to the girl side. Please not Helena, not Helena.

"Helena Kils." No! Why is fate against us marrying? We can't marry now. I have to volunteer for her. I can't watch her die in the arena, I have to protect her in the arena, so when the escort is about to choose the boy's name, I shove through.

"I volunteer." Helena will never forgive me, but I won't forgive myself if I don't do this.

"NO!" I hear Helena scream in desperation "You can't."

"Miss Kils, I'm afraid you can't stop him, why do you want to?" The escort looks at Helena, as I make my way up.

"Because he's my fiancée, and I'd rather die than know it was my fault he went into the arena." When I get on the stage, she looks at me through the tears streaming down her face. We shake hands and I try to comfort her.

"I'll always protect you."

 **Here's the questions then (the second one relates to the last chapter cos I forgot to do the questions for it):  
Do you think Hecate was right to volunteer for Helena and why?  
If you lived in one of the districts, would you save a bit of cash to sponsor like Callum, and would what district you're in affect it?**


	8. Chapter 7

**Happy Easter guys! Sorry I've not updated for a few days, I got a bad case of writer's block so I took a break from writing but it's all better now. Wooo! I've been writing like crazy, so I should manage to give you a double update today as it's Easter. This is the last of the reapings, thank goodness. I find them so tedious to write, next chapter will be the tribute parade.**

 **Chapter 7**

 **District 9**

 **Lily's POV**

The sun wakes me early today, it looks like such a nice day. It's not though. It's the worse day of the year. For all the districts at least. Reaping day, when 22 of us teenagers, a male and female from each district, are chosen to die. Well only 21 die, the last one, once they've one the hunger games gets to live in riches for the rest of their lives. It's mainly people from districts 1, 2 and 4 that win though. They have training academies, so they have tonnes of volunteers that probably know a hundred ways to kill you with their bare hands.

I don't think the quell will change anything. It just means there will be more deaths faster. People from outlying districts with half decent training scores will get cocky and attack the first person they meet, not knowing who it is. Most of the time it'll probably be a career. That's my bet anyway.

If I was in the games, I know what my strategy would be. Grab a pack and weapon and run. I wouldn't kill, not unless I had to, and I wouldn't do it like the careers. I'd make it quick, I mean they probably wouldn't want to be there anymore than I would.

My name's in the reaping 8 times. I have to take to lots of tesserae to feed me and my grandad, he's the only family I've got. My dad was shot when I was six for being a rebel, and my mum taken off to the Capitol and made an avox for being a sympathiser.

I make my grandad breakfast and leave some bread out for his lunch. I like to be alone on reaping day. He respects that.

When I'm at the reaping I see we have a new escort, it's getting more and more common to have new escorts, I think it's getting really popular at the Capitol to be one. I mean who wouldn't want to pick two innocent people's name out of a bowl and get to know them before making them fight to the death, knowing that only one can come out alive and the odds less than 11-1 that it will be one that you picked? Yeah, I can really see the appeal. It's the first time in living memory that District 9 has a male one though. He introduces himself as Akoni, and tries to get us all hyped up. Funnily enough going

"Hey guys, it's great to meet you on this lovely day, I'm sure you'll all as excited as I am. Can I have a cheer if you're excited?" Doesn't get us enthusiastic. Funny that. Not. "Now, most districts start with the female, and I normally say ladies first, but today it's men just before." He grins at our scowling faces. He doesn't seem put down. If anything, it makes him more enthusiastic. "Okay, I'm going in." Please don't tell me he's one of the escorts that gives you a running commentary of what YOU CAN SEE him doing. "I think I'll dig deep for this one." His hand goes further in. "This one." I hope it's not a twelve or thirteen year old. It's not fair that they're put in the arena with fully grown, strong 18 year olds. "Caleb Stone." He reads out. It is a thirteen year old. I hope someone will volunteer, but I doubt it. They don't know him, why should they die in the place of a stranger? No one does volunteer. "Now for the ladies." There's no commentary this time. I just hope it's not me. "Lily Hart." I go up, I know there won't be a volunteer, I just have to hope the odds will be in my favour in the arena. That I will get sponsors and that the game makers won't send mutts after me.

 **Caleb's POV**

I might volunteer. I want to die. There's no other way of putting it. I don't get any pleasures from life. I don't think I'm brave enough to do it though, to commit suicide. This way I'm not actually committing suicide, but my life will still end. I could never win the games. I have a limp too, I've had it since I broke it when I was 4, but my parents couldn't afford a proper doctor so it's never fully healed. That probably makes my odds about 30-1. Not great. I won't be able to get away from the bloodbath fast enough. I will fight though. I don't want to look like those depressed people that jump from their pedestal before the games starts. I will fight for a better life, for money, I'm just not expecting to win. I don't think I'll bother with training in the Capitol, it'll be a waste of time.

There's a new escort this year. His name's Akoni, and he is literally the stereotypical person from the Capitol. It's quite scary really. He goes for the boys first. "Caleb Stone." Fate and destiny must have already decided it. Maybe this is what's supposed to happen.

 **District 10**

 **Ariana's POV**

I wish I lived in the Capitol. It would be so fun there. I would fit in there. I'd fit in more than I fit in here. I think the hunger games are a good idea. My whole district disagrees. It's a well-known fact that the reapings a rigged. The tributes are chosen before- hand. Children of rebels and rebel sympathisers are the ones that are reaped. They must be. The Capitol aren't heartless. If they were, they'd just round up 22 kids at random and shoot them all. This way, we can have hope. And there's a victor. Their life is better after the games, they are rewarded, and it teaches them not to be like their parents.

In career districts it works slightly differently I guess, but I've never been out of ten so I wouldn't know. I will never be reaped. I always report any signs of rebel activity to the nearest peacekeeper, I'm a law abiding citizen. I think people like me, the ones that have never broken a single rule, should have the choice to move to a richer district. That's the only thing about the Capitol that I don't like. citizens of the districts can't travel to other districts or to the Capitol. I get why the trouble makers can't go, but people like me shouldn't be punished for their actions.

"Ladies first." The escort beams and walks to the female reaping bowl "Ariana Goshole." She reads. What? There must be a mistake. I've never even spoken to a rebel. I've always followed the rules. No! There must be a mistake. That's all, any minute now she'll say something like

'Sorry for that mix up, I read the slip wrong it's really …' But she doesn't. Instead all she says is

"Ariana Goshole, are you here? Please come up." I don't remember going up, but somehow I find myself on the stage. This can't be right. I can't have been reaped. But I have. I am going to the hunger games. I am going to die.

 **Maximus' POV**

I'm just the average guy from 10. If I get reaped I will also be the average death in the game, probably. The odds are never in my favour. At a rebel demonstration, my dad was mixed up in the cross fire, he wasn't a rebel, but it was mayhem, he got shot. I hope it was quick. My mum died during child birth, so I live in an orphanage. It basically means I look after myself. I have somewhere to live and I get food, but I have to take two lots of tesserae and I get food. If it wasn't for the food I'd move out and live on the streets. I'd have to take even more tesserae to survive though. I'm not willing to risk that, when I'm 17, in 2 years' time, I can get a job, and when I'm 18, I have to move out. I'll probably move out when I've saved up a bit of cash.

I just hope I don't get reaped between now and then. Like I said though, the odds are never in my favour.

"Ladies first." The escort reads out. I don't have any friends I need to hope for. I just need to hope for myself. That my name is never on the slip "Ariana Goshole." I don't recognise her name, that doesn't mean I don't know her though. I know lots of people by the face and not by name. She doesn't come up. "Ariana Goshole, are you here? Please come up." The girl finally comes up. She looks stunned. "Now for the male tribute." I hope it's not me. "Maximus Halington." Of course. The odds really are not in my favour. I go up. I hope it's not a career that gets me. I want it to be quick. I mean I don't want it at all. I'm going into the arena though, and the odds have never been in my favour.

 **District 11**

 **Thalia's POV**

I-I don't know what to do. I never thought this would happen. I know my name's in 8 times, but my chances were still astronomically small. What will my family do? Tessa will have to take tesserae; I didn't want that to happen. I tried to make sure it would never happen. I wanted to protect her. That's all I wanted to do. Protect my family. The Capitol even has to take that away. I hate them. I hate all of them. If I ever get the chance I'm going to kill President Trusta. She is the person I blame for all this. I hope she dies slowly, slowly and painfully. She deserves it. She deserves to go into the hunger games. She deserves to feel that all the districts feel. Especially today. This is when tensions are highest. Reaping day. And I've just been reaped.

I don't think I have much chance. I mean, I know how to hide. That won't save me though. I can't just hide the whole games. Particularly not in these games; the landscape will keep changing and I'll have to find somewhere new to hide. Even if I did make it to the final two, I'd have to kill the other person, by that point it would be the strongest person that went into the arena. To sum it up: I'm dead. I'm living on borrowed time. In a couple of weeks, my family will be mourning me. I'll just be a memory. I don't want to die. I'm not ready for it. Somehow I have to be though.

I stumble up to the front. I'm small, skinny and weak physically, so there's no point trying to look strong. It wouldn't fool anyone. I'm not going to get any sponsors. Who would want to sponsor me? "Kyle Fidora." The escort reads the male name out. He comes up, he looks as scared as I do. He's my age, but I don't know him. "Any volunteers?" There never is, but to my surprise, there is.

"I volunteer." It's a tall twelve year old. Why would a twelve year old volunteer? It makes no sense. Unless his family is really desperate.

"What's your name?"

"Tyla Ugin." He grins, excitedly, he looks like he can't wait to get to the Capitol. Pyscho, and I have to go into the arena with him.

 **Tyla's POV**

I don't get why everyone doesn't volunteer. I mean sure you can't live with your families for the rest of your lives unless you 'win' but you get a way better life. It's just a TV show. They select the winner at random and then film all the shots they need to show us 'live'. It's all fake though. The Capitol are reasonable, they'd never really make us fight to the death. That's just cruel. The Capitol aren't cruel, they protect us. They give us peacekeepers and in return we deliver the quota that they've set us in the fields. It works. I mean some of their rules are a bit harsh, but they only want to keep the peace. I think they're probably just a bit paranoid, because of the last rebellion. They were pretty close to being beaten.

"Thalia Kason." The escort reads out. A small 15 year old walks up, when she gets onto the stage, I can see she clearly looks petrified. "Any volunteers?" Silence. Then the escort goes to the male bowl "Kyle Fidora." It's another 15 year old, he's also petrified. "Any volunteers?" I step forwards and shout:

"I volunteer." Everyone around me looks shocked. I can't wait to get to the Capitol, it's going to be great.

"What's your name?" The escort asks me, whilst shoving the microphone in my face.

"Tyla Ugin." This is going to be the time of my life.


	9. Chapter 8

**I've managed it, the second update. Woooo! It's a bit longer than usual, for the next few chapters they probably will be about this long. I haven't done all the tribute's POV because that would just get boring, but you will see every tribute's POV in either the tribute parade, individual training or the interview. Next chapter will be day 1 of training. Once again happy Easter and please let me know what you think of this chapter.**

 **Chapter 8**

 **Tribute Parade**

 **Aria's POV (** **D1F)**

My stylist is amazing. Seriously. My outfit is awesome. Sponsors will definitely have their eyes on me now. My long blonde hair is falling down my back in a cascade of curls. My dress is black underneath, but my dress has so many tiny, twinkling gems all of it, you can barely so it. The gems light up just as I step into the carriage. I look stunning. Flynn's outfit is pretty average for a male that comes from 1. Boys can't really pull gems off so stylists just stick them in tuxedos and hope for the best. All the attention will be on me.

District 1 always leads the way too, which means they will see us first and won't want to take their eyes off us. Some of the other outfits are quite good too. Others just look dumb. I think the two from three are dressed up as circuit boards. They are both in green and have a red light running over it, with a gold section. Circuit boards would work with district 3's work so I guess they must be. District 9 looks completely ridiculous. They're livestock so I figure they never really had much hope. Dressed up as pigs though. That is a bit cruel.

Soon our pure white horse starts trotting and the parade begins. As soon as our carriage is pulled past the crowd, they go wild. I've already discussed it with my mentor, I'm going for a sexy but deadly look. This means I don't have to wave and smile, but when a rose is thrown at me, I catch it, and blow a kiss. Then I hitch my dress up a bit higher, making the crowd whoop even more. The men are loving this. I don't care, as long as it gets me sponsors I don't care. Flynn tries to take my hand to pull it up into the air, but I pull it away. I want to make it clear I don't care who dies, as long as it's not me.

"Excellent work." Our escort, Idola, smiles as we get out of the carriage at the end of the ceremony.

"Yes, well done for keeping up with your front Aria. From the reaping and you pulling your arm away from Flynn it shows sponsors how much you want to get home. You'd hurt your own district partner if it meant coming out of the arena." My mentor adds. "The twist will work in both your favours too."

"I was showing the truth then." I turn and glare at Flynn who glares back.

"I'd like to see you try to kill me." He challenges.

"Wanna bet?" I rise up to the bait immediately, bringing my hand up to slap him. He grabs it and twists it.

"Your dead in the arena." I bring my leg up, kick him in the shins, tug my wrist out of his clutch and storm off. How dare he have the audacity to touch me? He's so dead.

 **Julius' POV (D2M)**

My mentor hates me. I shouldn't have volunteered he says. I apparently completely disrespected the whole academy by doing it. Whoopsy. Oh well, I've done it now. My outfit for the tribute parade is pretty dumb. District 2's main industry is stonework, so my stylist has decided that Elodie and I should be dressed up as statues. Yup. You heard right. Statues. They've also decided to make it more realistic, they've injected us both with this temporary paralytic serum. Basically for the next half an hour, I'm stuck in this position. Literally. Fortunately, the serum numbs the body so I can't feel anything, so my arm doesn't ache from holding it in an 'artistic pose' for half an hour.

It also means I have to sit here in boredom with Elodie. We can't even talk because of the serum. I can see everyone else with their mentors, escorts and stylists. Most of the stylists are making last minute alterations. After what seems like an age, everyone finally gets in their carriages. The girl from one in front of us is stunning. The guy – Flynn I think – from 1, is one lucky guy. She is mega hot.

Our horse starts trotting about five seconds after the District 1's horse and we are pulled past the wild crowds after them. They start clapping and cheering the second the District 1 carriage comes out the tunnel. It gets even louder when we come out. The lights are blinding, but I can't close my eyes. It's really annoying. People start chucking flowers and stuff and we are soon surrounded by them, someone even chucked a miniature foam statue at us. I'm glad it wasn't an actual statue though, especially as it hit me on the head. They need to get better aim.

By the end of President Trusta's speech, the only interesting bit was the new twist, the serum is starting to wear off, and I'm starting to get pins and needles in my hands, we have to stay in this position until our carriage turns around though. Then when Elodie's stylist tells us through our earpieces, we have to stand up, holding hands and bring our hands up in the air. Apparently they go wild for that sort of thing.

"Now." The voice almost makes me jump out of my carriage. I hadn't expected it to be so loud, I guess it has to be though, so we can hear it over the crowd. The cheering gets louder as we stand up, feeling finally comes back to my feet as our carriage goes back through the tunnel, just in time for me to climb off.

"You both looked wonderful." Yax, my stylist grins.

 **Isla's POV (D4F)**

My hair is red. I seriously want to punch my stylist. If it gets me noticed for I am, I don't want the Capitol to see me as Antony's sister. I want them to see me as a separate person. I'm dressed as a mythical creature called a mermaid. I've never heard of it before, but apparently loads of people in the Capitol have tattoos of them and have fairy tales about them. From the waist down I am in a weird silky material that pulls my legs together and has these odd looking fin things where my feet are. The material shimmers and reflects different colours. On my top half I am wearing nothing except these two shell things that act as a bra. They've got multi-coloured gems around the outside. The sponsors will definitely have their eyes on District 4. Especially with Phoenix's outfit.

He has nothing on his top half, showing his tanned, sexy six pack. He is so hot. It's probably bad that's the first thing when I saw him, but it's so true. They've spiked his brown hair up in a kind of hot but messy way. Sponsors will go wild. On his bottom half is wearing a sort of white toga. He is also holding a golden trident. It's not a real trident; they'd never allow that. Its spikes aren't sharp enough to pierce the skin, but they look sharp from a distance.

Our stylists say that they've dressed me up as this really famous mermaid called 'Ariel' and Phoenix as the sea god called 'Poseidon' from Greek (a country that existed before all the war) mythology. It doesn't really matter who we're supposed to be, we just need something that represents our district. Personally, I think it's quite a tenuous link, but if it means sponsors I'm all up for it.

Our carriage follows behind the District 3. The crowd almost deafens me. Someone chucks a card at me and it lands on my lap. I don't look inside, but on the front is a picture of Antony. I feel sick. Who would remind me of him like this? I just hope I can make it through tonight.

I do. I make it. As soon as we get off the carriage, I open it

To Isla

I sponsored Antony and am sorry that he died. My condolences. I now hope to sponsor you, give my name to your mentor so we can start negotiating. I will not get involved with sponsoring you if you don't give my name to your mentor. I want to make sure that you want sponsors, some people volunteer because their siblings died and they want to feel close, go through what they did. I don't want to waste my time if you are one of these.

Saloma Dakonis

I hope she doesn't just want to sponsor my because of my brother. Either way, I've secured at least one sponsor. It's a good start, hopefully my training score will also get me some. I'll need them this year more than ever because of the quell, especially as with the added twist that has just been announced, I want more sponsors than anyone.

 **Callum's POV (D5M)**

Power and electricity. Pretty rubbish stimulus. Basically means I'm a giant pylon. Yup. I'm not even joking. I really wish I was. The second time I'm going public in front of Panem and I'm dressed as a pylon. I hope my stylist dies. And slowly. Hopefully my interview outfit is going to be better than this. Daria's also dressed as a pylon. She's as equally annoyed as me. I know how it feels for all those tributes that have come before me and been humiliated in front of all of Panem. I just hope there's some person, like me who sponsors the tributes from our district who gets reaped. I don't know anyone who does. They don't want to waste their money. To be fair, District 5 barely ever has a winner, maybe this year though. I'm determined to make it back to 5 alive. Somehow I don't think this pylon outfits gonna get sponsors queuing up for me though.

On the train journey there I've discovered that Daria isn't particularly good at anything to do with weapons. She's not physically fit and she has a rubbish memory. So pretty much, she's dead. I thought about allying with her, just for a little while at first, but I realised because of the quell I'd have no way of knowing who she is. I guess I'll have to win on my own.

When we come out of the tunnel, I realise how many Capitol citizens actually turn up for the tribute parade. The crowd's about the size of my district doubled. It's crazy. They are mental, some of their outfits are even stranger than mine and Daria's. They start chucking flowers at us, some of them land by Daria, a couple go near me but most of them were a really bad aim and just fall to the ground to be trampled on. I wouldn't like to be the avox that has to clear all this mess up afterwards.

"Welcome, welcome." President Trusta starts her long and boring speech "Welcome, Capitol citizens and tributes alike. The run up to the hunger games has now officially started." Woop-de-do. The crowd start cheering again, and when they stop, the President carries on. "I think we can all say that this year is going to be a very interesting games. There has never been anything like it, and there will never be anything like it again. While our tributes are in the Capitol, they will stay in brand quarters in a brand new training centre made especially for the quell. The equipment is all brand new and made with the very best Capitol technology." How much longer is this going to go on for? "I would also like to announce our new head game maker, Walter Grayson. I would like to wish him the very best of luck, and he has assured me, it won't be a boring games. I have one more announcement to make. We have decided to add one last twist to the games. Normally, except for the feasts, if you want certain items that cannot be found at the cornucopia, sponsors have to pay for them, however this year, we have decided to be generous. Each tribute at the start of the games will have $50 in their sponsor pool, their mentor can chose when to use this, and what to get you." This sounds good. I've got a bit of sponsor money already. But then all the tributes do. "However, if you are killed before this money has been use up, whoever kills you automatically gets the money for their sponsor pool." A loud gasp comes up from the crowd, I don't think anyone was expecting this.

 **Bea's POV (D7F)**

I think I may have a chance to win. A small one, but a chance all the same. I'll just need a few sponsors. I can just grab a backpack at the beginning and a weapon. Hopefully I can get my hands on a knife. That'll give me the best chance. I can hunt, I'll just survive on my own, until it's the final two, and then take down the last person. I'll make myself look weak, so they think they can finish me off quickly and then they won't notice me killing them until it's too late.

I could really do with some sponsors though. I mean, I'm only really used to hunting in the woods, and with the terrain changing on every death, it won't be the easiest arena to get food in. I'll just have to make sure I'm prepared, ready to move on in a minute or two if I have to, even if I'm asleep. I don't want to end up losing all my stuff if a dessert terrain turns into the sea or something.

I don't think this outfit is going to help me get many sponsors though. District 7's lumber. Yup, you guessed it, once again we're dressed as trees. So original, not. The crowd still seems to like it though. But then, they are from the Capitol. I hate the Capitol, I would bomb the place tomorrow if it meant they would all die. They're just sick. Sick, arrogant and stupid. They think they can control us. Well they can't, they can't control me anyhow.

"I've already had someone wanting to sponsor you Bea." Layla, my mentor says at the end "Providing you get above a 6 on your training score." I didn't think many people were looking at us. That's good news though. Most people had their eyes on the pair from 4. The girl only had a pair of shells for decency on her top half and a tight shimmery tail thing on her bottom half. The boy, well what to say about him. He was hot. Seriously hot. He was topless, showing off his muscular arms and six pack stomach. He only had a weird toga thing on the bottom half. They'll definitely get tonnes of sponsors.

This new twist will certainly help with the sponsor situation though. If my mentor spends the money wisely and only when necessary, I can definitely win this. I might be able to go home.

 **Hecate's POV**

Helena and I are pretty lucky when it comes to the tribute parade. District 8 is textiles which basically means anything made with a material we can wear. I'm just in a black suit. Helena is the real star though. Her wavy brown hair is tied up in a messy bun, with a couple of strands dangling by her ears. Her eyeshadow is pale pink to match her dress. It is long and floaty with lace at the hem. It really suits her.

I can't take my eyes off her. I just wish we'd had more time. I know she's still not forgiven me for volunteering, but I couldn't stand there and watch. Now, now I can make sure she wins, now I can make sure she has a future. Even if it's not with me. She'll have money and a nice house in the victor's village and she won't have to work. I know she'll miss me, but she knows everything I do is for her. I chose to do this, I won't abandon her. Not ever.

By the time our carriage makes it out of the tunnel, the ground is already full of trampled flowers, and more are being added every second. Flowers are being thrown at us from every direction. It's mad. The cheering grew louder as we came into full view.

I try to take Helena's hand, but she pushes it away, she's still not talking to me. I hope she starts soon. I hate it when we argue. Soon I won't even be able to recognise her. Tomorrow morning we get given the serum that makes us think we all look the same. Tonight's the last night I can look at her beautiful face, only her eyes that are normally dancing with happiness, are flashing with anger. I don't know if they'll ever go back. If I'll ever see her properly again.

 **Ariana's POV**

It's weird. I've spent my whole life wanting to be in the Capitol, now I'm here I want to get away. I'm still sure there's been a mistake, I've never done anything wrong. Well apart from slapping Lauren Jefferies around the face once in year 3 for stealing my lunchbox. Somehow, I don't think that justifies sending me to my death though. I just hope there are some very generous sponsors out there who like me. I'm going to die otherwise.

The only weapon I think I'll be able to use is a whip. Or rope as a lasso. That's mainly because I've used them for three or four years now. District 10 is livestock, I have to be able to use. Maybe I can grab one and run from the cornucopia. I won't have any chance whatsoever if I don't get my hands on a weapon I can use.

That's why I need sponsors, in case I can't get a decent weapon, and I'll need food. I think I have a pretty good chance of sponsors having their eyes on me now. My outfit is reasonably good, it's a lot better than some of the others. I'm basically dressed as a cow girl. My hat is golden and sparkly and I have a white and gold flannel shirt with black jodhpurs and black knee length boots that have golden swirls on them. It's pretty comfortable too. I feel sorry from the pair from 2 that are dressed as statues so they have to stay in the same position.

"Remember, when you go out, to wave your whips like a lasso around your heads, try to catch a flower or something with it if you feel confident enough." My stylist hisses as we are just about to go. I hold the golden whip above my head and start to whirl it around. It's not a proper whip, we're not allowed, but it looks like it. We have to be careful not to get our whips tangled up in each other's though.

When the first flower is thrown towards me, I lash my whip out flick it towards my empty hand and catch it. The crowd starts to cheer louder, now they've seen what I can do, they may want to sponsor me. I carry on doing it with the flowers thrown in my direction, until my arm starts to ache, then I bring the bunch I've caught up and wave them, until we reach the inner circle. I'll definitely have at least a couple of sponsors, I hope.


	10. Chapter 9

**Just wondering guys, do you want longer chapters but longer gaps between the updates, or shorter chapters and quicker updates? Let me know what you think of this chapter, it's the first four POVs of day one of training, next chapter will be three more POVs of it. Then I'll do the same with day 2. Enjoy.**

 **Chapter 9**

 **Vincent's POV (D6M)**

I've decided I'm not going down without a fight. I'm going to get around as many stations as possible. Today I'm going to go to all the survival skills stations: fire making, poisonous berries, traps etc. Tomorrow I'm going to do physical stuff in the morning: weights, climbing, swimming etc., in the afternoon I'll try all the weapons. On the morning of the 3rd day I'll train with the weapon I am best in. I'm not sure what I'll do in the individual training.

It's weird when I go up to the training centre; we've all been given the serum now, so I can't tell who's who, only what district they are from. The tributes from 1, 2 and 4 all head straight over to the weapons. I head to the trap making area and start chatting to the guy there.

"The first thing you need to remember about traps is that the simple ones are usually the most effective." He says "Lots of people end up killing themselves with the complex ones because they end up forgetting where each section to it is and get caught in it." I nod. Good, because I don't have time to learn all the complicated traps: just a few simple ones to use to hunt. If I don't waste all my sponsor money on food, it may help me later on in the games. I spend about 45 minutes at that station before moving onto the poisonous berries station.

It turns out I'm pretty bad at it. I get 3/50 on the test the instructor gives me to see where I'm at, and they were just guesses. Guess I won't be eating many berries. It turns out I have a pretty good memory though, because soon I can spot the signs of a poisonous berry and I've memorised a lot of edible ones.

Next I'm onto fire making. I can't whizz through this one like the last two. It takes patience. One of the tributes from 11 comes over and starts doing it with me.

"Male or female?" He grins.

"Male, you?" There's not really much point in lying.

"Same." He grins "My name's Maximus."

"Vincent." I reply and carrying on rubbing my stick into the log.

"It would work better if you did it like this." Maximus demonstrated with his stick, he is turning it a lot faster and not pressing so hard into the log, soon a small spark flew up. "See." I try and within 10 minutes I have a small fire going.

"Thanks." I grin, putting it out and starting again. I want to make sure it wasn't just a fluke. After building up a small fire several times I decide it's time to head over to camouflage. It's the most fun out of all the stations I've been to. I'm just swirling paints around on my hand to make the textures of trees and plants. It's quite relaxing. I've never really had the chance to paint at home; paints are way too expensive for my family to afford.

When the gong goes for lunch, I wash my hand clean and go into the cafeteria. As usual the careers have shoved a couple of tables together and are chatting noisily. At least they won't be able to ally this year. I won't have a career pack trying to hunt me down. I see who I think is Maximus sitting on a table by his own. I'm pretty sure it is him, he didn't move from the fire lighting station until he went to the cafeteria, and his district partner isn't here yet.

"Maximus?" I say, walking towards him.

"Yeah, Vincent, right?" I nod.

"Anyone sitting here?" I ask, he shakes his head and indicates to one of the free seats "Attaya, my district partner may join us though." He added.

"Mine might if she sees me here." I warn him.

"That's cool. I'm warning you though, my district partner is a bit," He struggles to think of the right word "She thinks her being here is a mistake and only rebels and law breakers get put into the hunger games. If she's a bit – well – difficult that's why." I nod. You do occasionally get a few like that. In the end neither of them joins us and they both sit on tables on their own. I did call Attaya over to sit with us, but she shook her head. I guess she doesn't want to get friendly with people she may have to kill.

I realise I've covered almost all the survival skills before lunch so I move onto swimming. I figured I'd probably need to spend a lot of time on it considering I'd never swam before in my life. I go to the pool on the far side of the room where two other people are training when I reach the pool the instructor gives me a wetsuit to change into and points me to the changing cubicle. The other two people in the pool seem to be fairly good and are swimming in the deep end and are diving for stuff. The instructor asks me if I want any help, but I shake my head. I don't want to look weak. I stay in the shallow end to start with and only take my feet off the bottom for a few seconds at a time, while thrashing my arms and legs wildly. After a few attempts I start to get the hang of it and I can soon swim the width of the pool easily. I decide to grab a pair of goggles and go underwater. I am quite good at this because I can hold my breath for a long time. Soon I go into the deep end and dive for stuff with the other two. I stay in the pool, perfecting my technique until I have to get out.

"Was that your first time?" The instructor asks as I hand the wetsuit back. I nod.

"Yeah, there's nowhere to swim in 6." She nods reprovingly.

"You were good; most people who have never swum can barely swim a width by the time they go into the arena."

"Thanks." I reply, before heading back to the District 6 apartment to have a shower, change my clothes and eat. That's the best thing about being here: the food. It's gorgeous.

 **Hecate's POV (D8M)**

Helena's decided to start talking to me again thank goodness. I can't look at her properly though, we've been given the serum so she looks like everyone else. When we're free to go where we like to train I look at Helena

"Where do you want to go?" I ask.

"Weapons." She says without hesitation "You choose which first."

"Erm, archery." I know neither of us are very strong so there's no point in trying the swords or axes.

"Okay." She says, and we wander over to the archery targets together. I pick up two bows and quivers and hand one to her. I hold my bow and fumble to put the arrow in place. When I finally manage it, I pull the string back and aim. Twang! It doesn't hit centre, but it's not far off. Helena has a go next, hers hits dead centre.

"Think we've found your weapon." I smile.

"I'll need to risk the bloodbath to get it," She argues "And it's no good for close up."

"I know," I say "But it's better than nothing." I'm trying to be optimistic for her; we spend about half an hour or so by the archery station, and by the end it's clear that Helena has a lot of talent at it, it turns out I'm not bad, I've never missed the target, but I've also never got bullseye.

"Where now?" Helena says, putting the bow back down.

"I don't mind, you can choose." I say.

"Knives?" She suggests. I nod and we go on to that station, there a few other tributes already there. We start off with the throwing knives, but neither of us are great, so we practise close up with a couple of avoxes. I'm pretty good, and Helena can hold them off quite well. I might be able to take a career down if they attack us, if they don't expect it, Helena could probably take down some of the weaker tributes.

"At least we've both found a weapon." She says, after I've disarmed the avox again.

"Yeah, do you want to try spears or something now, there's almost always spears at the cornucopia." I ask. She nods.

"Only short ones for close up combat though, we don't have the strength to throw them." I nod. We need to find a weapon that we're comfortable with and is likely to be in the games. Once we've been to all the weapons stations we want to try, we'll probably go to the survival stations and if we have time, try to get our physical health up, but it may not be possible in the time space available.

"Can you spar with me?" I ask the nearest avox, who nods and picks a light spear up and gets ready to start. I hold my spear out and go in for a short jab, but only to district him. He blocks, just as I pull out and quickly jab his arm. It's not hard, and there's no blood, but he still winces. He goes in for a volley of attacks, and I have to jump around a lot to avoid them. I finally manage to bring my spear up to block an attack on my chest and knock his spear out of his hand. I pull my spear to his throat, signalling his defeat. I quite like this spear. It's just the right size and weight to use, I think this might be the weapon for me to try and get. Helena, however is struggling, she just grabbed the first spear she found which turns out to be quite heavy so she's finding it hard to lift and is soon disarmed.

"I need a lighter one." She pants, I give her mine, put hers back and find another light one. I decide just to attack a dummy this time, so I get use to where I should be aiming to hit. We stay on that station until the gong for lunch goes and we go to the canteen.

"Where next?" I ask, digging into a huge plate of pasta.

"I think we should split up and go to the survival stations." She says, spearing a lump of chicken "We won't have time to go to all of them together, but this way between us we'll have all the skills we need. We can teach each other them this evening." She's right, there's loads of stations to get through, I don't want to leave her though. I volunteered to keep her safe, now I have to leave her halfway through the first day of training.

"Okay, if you don't mind splitting up." I shrug, I am doing all this for her though.

By the time it's the end of the day, I know how to light a fire, I've learnt tonnes of different edible plants and can tie 'The ten most useful knots in the hunger games'. That's what the pamphlet I was learning from said anyway. When the gong signalling the end of the day goes, Helena comes up to me.

"You go on, I just want to check something." I say.

"I'll come with you." She volunteers.

"No it's fine." I say, I'm not sure if it's totally legal.

"Please." She begs. I don't want her getting into trouble.

"No, I'll see you in a couple of minutes." I say. She glares at me.

"I hate you sometimes you know?" She says, before giving me a quick kiss and running off. I follow all the other tributes slowly, so I'm the last out. I've heard a rumour from the victors in 8 that they don't lock the door to the room of the training centre at 8, I want to see if it's true. I stand quietly in small cupboard nearby that only has a few broken weapons in. I watch as all the game makers, avoxes and instructors come out. I wait a few minutes to see if anyone else comes out, then check. It's empty, and the door isn't locked.

"What were you doing?" Helena asks the second I walk into the apartment.

"Confirming a rumour." I grin.

"What?" She looks confused.

"They don't lock the training room door." I say. "We can go up later and get some extra training in."

"Seriously?" She asks. I nod, I had to check, I want Helena to have the best possible chance of winning.

"Yeah, we'll have to keep quiet and only practise stuff like climbing so we don't need an instructor." I say "And we can only stay for ages, we'll need to sleep as well."

"What are you talking about?" Ursula, Helena's mentor says. "Discovered the training centre's not locked?" I nod, there's no point in lying.

"They clean it between 6 and 7 but after that no one goes in until 9 to set up." She says. We can go in about 7:15 then and train for three hours then, and we'll still get a good amount of sleep.

"We can go up after dinner then." I say.

"I'll come too, it would be irresponsible if I didn't." Ursula says. Maybe Helena can win this.

 **Bea's POV (D7F)**

I head straight to the climbing wall. I want to practise on things other than trees. To start with I go on the medium one, but after years of climbing trees I find it really simple and go to the hard one. It's a bit more of a challenge but I still make the fastest climbing time in the whole history of the hunger games. After going up several different routes, I head back down. A couple of people have stopped to watch me speeding up and down the wall, but I ignore them and head to the whip station. I want to try an obscure weapon, if I get the hang of it and use it in individual training and impress the game makers they'll definitely make sure it's in the arena. Hardly anyone will go for it so I'll end up with a weapon I can use without being in much danger.

It's hard to tell how good I am just flicking it at the dummy so I grab some red paint from the camouflage section and dip the tip into it and then use it. I'm not amazing at it, the whip doesn't hit straight on so it blurs the paint, but I keep going until I feel like my arms are going to drop and I get much better. Just as I am taking the paint back the gong for lunch goes so I head to the canteen to grab some lunch and decide what to try next.

In the end I head to the swimming pool, I have never swum before and I may need to at a moment's notice, especially if the arena changes and I end up being in a lake or something. I'm given a wetsuit and the instructor shows me how to do a basic front crawl. I'm quite slow, but I can keep above the water. I learn how to tread water too, you never know what will come in useful. I climb out after a little while, I don't need to be amazing, I just don't want to drown.

"Where are you heading now? I almost jump out of my skin. I turn around to see who it is, forgetting about the serum. I look down at the number on his top. It's a 7.

"Oh, her Ciaran." I say "I dunno, what have you done so far?" I ask him.

"Mainly weapons, I have discovered I epically fail at using every single one of them except an axe, and I'm pretty bad at that considering I'm from 7." He says. He's trying to sound like he doesn't care, but I can tell he does.

"Every single one?" I say, surely he can't be that bad.

"Yup, spears, swords, maces, knives, archery, even sling shots." He says, "I guess I should just hide until everyone else is dead."

"If you're going to do that, we should probably go over there." I nod to where several tributes are painting their arms browns and greens in the camouflage area.

"I suppose I can't be any worse at it than I am at weapons." He says, walking towards where I nodded. "You found a weapon yet?"

"I'm quite good with a whip, and I know I can use a knife and axe from back home."

"A knife, what job do you have?" He sounds pretty shocked. I lean in and whisper in his ear, so any hidden microphones won't pick it up.

"I have to hunt to survive." He nods as if to say your secret's safe with me, and we start painting our arms. By the end we've begun to get bored so we start flicking each other with paint. The instructor starts to give us dirty looks so we clean our arms and leave. It was fun to have a laugh though. Ever since the reapings everything's been so serious. I haven't had a laugh in days.

"Is it true that you've got the fastest time on the climbing wall?" Ciaran asks, leading me towards it. I nod.

"Can you teach me?" He seems shy about asking, I don't think he likes being worse at something than somebody else. I nod, and put a safety harness on him.

"We'll start on the easiest wall first." I clip myself in too. "First thing you need to remember, this rope is your lifeline, do not under any circumstances take it off unless you're at the bottom. You also may want to climb a little way up and then practise jumping off to get used to it." He nods. "Now find a big hand hold and put your strongest hand in it and pull yourself up." I watch as Ciaran looks around and finds a good hold and pulls himself up. "Good, now find a good place to put your other hand and feet. Not to high up and your feet not too far apart. It's not necessary on this wall and just makes your life uncomfortable." He grunted at the effort of holding himself up with one hand but soon found a couple of suitable footholds.

"Like this?" He asks.

"Yeah, now find a hand hole a bit higher and move your hand there, then do the same again." He does this a few times and progresses slowly up the wall. I climb up to his level so he can hear me. "As you practise, you'll grow a natural instinct for the good holds and be able to find them quicker."

"Okay, thanks." He says, as he reaches the top. "How come you came to be so good?" I shrug, I can't tell him the truth about living in the woods and climbing trees to escape peacekeepers.

"I like the outdoors." I say, leaning back and jumping down, before unharnessing myself and hooking myself up to the hardest wall. Once I've made sure I'm secure I climb up quickly. I love climbing and I soon loose myself in the wall. I go up different routes up it. Climb from one end to the other. It's relaxing. I stay up there until the end of the day, then I jump down and unharness myself. Tomorrow I might go to the edible plants, I need to be able to find food in the arena.

 **Ariana's POV (D10F)**

Apparently there hasn't been a mistake, I am in the games. I need to make the most of my training time in the Capitol. I'm going to spend all my time going around the weapon stations. I'm not going to survive very long if I can't fight. I start off at the swords. I grab a light one that feels about right in my hand. I approach one of the metal dummies and start to stab at the vital organs. Once they're all destroyed, I start slashing at it, the metal is hard to scratch and I'm soon panting for breathe. I decide it's time to practise on an actual person. I call an avox over and I fight with them. I beat them narrowly and then move onto the spear throwing area.

I grab a long spear and start aiming at the dummy. It takes me quite a few attempts to get used to it, and I soon realise I will need to work on it a lot. Once I've missed the dummy altogether for the 5th time, one of the tributes from 1 start sniggering at me. I had been just about to give up out of frustration, but when I see them, I am suddenly determined to prove them wrong. I will master spear throwing.

Soon I am starting to get the hang of it. Well, I haven't missed the dummy in about 10 shots, so there's definitely some improvement. When I go and yank the spear out of the dummy's hand and am about to aim again when I see a small crowd gathering around the climbing wall. I look up to see who they are ogling at. It's one of the tributes from 7. They are climbing up the wall at an incredibly fast pace and when they get to the top, they jump back down fearlessly and climb back up a different route. I may need to watch out for them. If I'm hunting them in a forest, it'll be easy to lose them amongst the trees. I turn back to the dummy and aim. This time I hit its elbow. It's a slight improvement.

By the time it's lunch I've just about mastered it. I don't miss the target anymore and 7/10 times I hit a vital organ. The other three times it hits quite close to one. If I have time after I've been to all the other weapons I'll go back and practise some more. I can see my district partner sitting with one of the tributes from 6. I don't know why, it's not like any of us can ally, there's no point in getting close to anyone.

I head to knife throwing after lunch, I'm slightly better at it than spear throwing but not by much, when I've improved a bit I move on.

I have officially decided axes are the worst weapon in all existence. They're heavy, awkward to carry and impossible to aim well with. I can hardly lift them to throw them. I try to find some lighter ones, but there aren't any so I decided to hit the weights. I start with the small ones, but even they are a struggle. Urgh, why do I have to be so weak? It might be the death of me now. I'll just have to do lots of weight work tomorrow and hopefully it'll help so on the last day I can get some practise in before individual training.


	11. Chapter 10

**Updates will start to be less regular again because I'm back at school. Urgh. I shouldn't have reminded myself of that torture. It was my first day back. You probably don't care but I'm gonna tell you about it anyway.**

 **Lesson 1 was maths. Just as a little background knowledge, the maths department at my school is going downhill and I've just spent nearly 1½ years being taught by a mega incompetent teacher so I'm in top set maths, taking my GCSEs in just over a year and we can barely do the basics so I'm really struggling. And then I have PE lesson 2. I'm literally the typical geek who never goes outside except to go to CEX in town and the library. So yeah… I almost smacked someone in the face with a rounder's ball today but I did score a rounder. Woooo! Then lesson 3 I had physics. I don't even know why, but I keep getting really high grades in physics, but I don't even understand anything we're doing so I'm there like, what? Why? How? Every single lesson. My friend of course finds it hilarious, and he starts laughing at me (yes my best friend's a guy and I'm a girl, no we're not dating like my whole year keep saying, he's more like a brother to me) and he got a slap at the end of the lesson. Lesson 4 was geography, to be fair it wasn't too bad, we just watched a video. I just hate geography because I find it boring. I wouldn't have taken it as one of my options, but my dad told me French, Spanish and History were terrible options choice and geography was more useful than all of them put together so he forced me to take it instead of product design as my 4** **th** **option (despite the fact he knows I want to take them at A-level). Then finally I had French, I love French, but my class are idiots and they just mess about because they were forced to take a language and they didn't want to. And then my teacher set a tonne of vocab to learn for homework.**

 **So yeah… I'll try to update at least once a week, but no promises. Please let me know what you think and enjoy :P**

 **Thalia's POV (D11F)**

I know I won't be able to use most of the weapons, I'm probably too weak to hold even the lightest of the swords even, so as soon as we're free to go I head to the camouflage station, I am good at hiding, maybe I can impress the game makers with that. The station itself looks really cool: it's a circle of trees quite close together with fake bushes and grass and stuff on the floor between them. In the middle of all this is a table with tonnes of paints and brushes and stuff. I am soon engrossed in making myself blend into the background of the tree. I have to get the exact shades and textures. Capture the way the moss crawls over it to perfection. If there's one thing I understand it's painting. Most of the people around me just paint their hands and lower arms, but I go full on and grab one of the jumpsuits, slip into it and blend my whole body into the tree. I have to hunt for a mirror when I get to my face and hair, but it looks pretty good. I take a while going through to lunch though.

I peel off the wet paint stained jumpsuit and put it in a pile with the other tribute that used one. It's hard getting the paint out of our faces, so we end up helping each other. We decide to eat lunch together. I discover she's the girl from 3, and her name's Farah, and like me she has a family she helped support. She is the eldest child in her family, like me and we both had to take tesserae. If it wasn't for the quell I'd probably ask her to be my ally, but there's not much point now. I hope we aren't the last two. I don't want to have to kill her. I don't really want to kill anyone, but I'll have to if I want to come out alive. If I'm not going to win though, I'd want her to win. Most people would say they want their district partner to win but mine's just plain strange. He doesn't believe me when I tell him the games are actually real. He's convinced it really is just a TV show.

We split up again after lunch. I want to go back to the camouflage area, it's so relaxing. I know it won't be an effective use of my time. I decide, I'll need to be at least comfortable with using a knife so I head to the knife section. I grab a long one and start to practise with one of the avoxes. I'm pretty bad and she knocks it out of my hand a few times, but I start getting the hang of it. I can tell she's going easy on me though. Each time I knock the knife out of her hand, she picks it up and starts attacking harder. After a couple of hours I'm fairly happy with it, if I'm attacked I should be able to hold them off until I get a chance to run. Unless it's a career that attacks. I'm dead anyway then though.

I head to the fire making station. I don't know how much use it will be because the arena will keep changing and the smoke will alert over tributes to where I am, but it's always a useful skill. The instructor sighs I little when she sees how useless I am. She's probably just irritated that only a couple of tributes have visited her station so far. I'm so bad I can hardly get a fire going with matches. Once she's told me to get kindling like dry grass and moss around the outside and light that, then the sticks will catch, I start to get the hang of it. That is until she takes the matches away. She shows me how to use two dry sticks to make a fire. I'm pretty bad at it, and by the time the gong goes signalling the end of the day, one of the lovers from 8 learnt it in about 30 minutes flat and moved on. I, however, only managed a bit of smoke and a spark. I think I'll return tomorrow. Maybe I'll have more luck then.

 **Daria's POV (D5F)**

Day one of training. Basically utter humiliation for me. I'm useless at memorising stuff, I can't use weapons, and I'm physically weak. I can't even camouflage myself. I know trying anything will be useless. I know Hallie wouldn't want me to give up, but I have. There's no way I'm going to win. I go to the rest area and slump in an armchair, watching. Just watching. I'm going to die, that much I know. I look around at the 23 other tributes in the room.

The six careers are all at weapon stations. There's a couple of people climbing. Some are swimming. Some are learning about edible plants and poisonous berries. There's a couple of empty stations. I presume the tributes I can't see are in the camouflage section. There's trees surrounding it so I can't see in. It's quite boring sitting here, but I don't want to humiliate myself. I'm doing this my own way. Some people are giving me funny looks. I don't really care though. Who are they to judge? They're training to kill each other. They don't care about each other's lives or what they may be going through. They're monsters, and I'm determined not to be one. I'm going to die at my own choosing.

It's boring just sitting here. I decide to make myself feel more comfortable. Well, or uncomfortable, depending on your point of view. I walk to the knife section and grab a small one before walking back to my armchair.

"Excuse me you can't take that out of this section." The instructor stops me.

"I'm just taking it over there." I nod to the rest area, where there are a couple of guards to make sure we don't kill each other.

"Well, okay then. But bring it back." I nod and carry on walking. When I get back I hold it in my right hand and run it along my old scars. They've been there for years, but even after a few days of not doing this, it's starting to feel unfamiliar. I start to press harder and the scars reopen. Thin curves of blood start appearing all the way up my arm. Pain starts to kick in, but I am use to it. I still feel it, I just don't register it. No one's noticed what I'm doing, and I don't think anyone would care. I'm going to be dead soon anyway.

After a while the blood starts to clot and scab over. The pain dulls to a gentle throb. When the gong goes for lunch I don't move. I don't really eat much. None of my sisters ever noticed, not even Hallie. She was nice to me, she tried to connect with me. She was just busy herself. I think she will blame herself, I don't want her to, I may send her a message. I know she won't listen to me about not watching. She will. She'll watch the first few minutes anyway. Then she'll be too heartbroken to watch the rest.

All the guards are in the cafeteria. I stand up and look around the room. There's a door that has 'Game makers only keep out' written on it. I wonder what they'll do to me if I go through it. I push it, and to my surprise it swings open easily so I step inside. I walk down the corridor and turn left. When I come to a flight of stairs I can go upstairs so I go down and then turn right at the bottom. When I get to the bottom I find an empty room. There's a huge empty table with a hologram machine in the middle. I click the on button and it jumps into a dessert hologram. I click several buttons on a nearby tablet and it morphs into different landscapes. It must be the arena. I walk around, looking out for anything useful. It's weird there's no one in here, maybe they're having their lunch too. One word on one of the tablets catches my eye – mutts. From a quick glance at it they're introducing them when it gets to the final 8 and there's one to go after each tribute. I click on some stuff and an option comes up to change the mutts' job. I quickly type in 'escape arena' and then hurry out. If they don't spot it, then I'll at least have caused them a bit of trouble.

"What are you doing down here?" The head game maker, Grayson is suddenly in front of me. "Come with me now!" He grabs my arm and drags me down a different corridor, and soon we are at a door labelled 'President Trusta'. Oh no. Maybe I did overstep the mark a little. I just hope they don't kill me. I want to die my own way. I don't think they will. It'd be a pain to replace me this late.

"Ma'am I found this tribute wandering around in a restricted area." Grayson says entering.

"What was she doing?" She asks.

"Just wandering."

"Very well, leave her with me." Grayson nods and goes out, leaving me with the president. "Now you will have to be punished." President Trusta looks at me "I think losing your tongue will teach you to be wary of signs in the future. I'll have to cancel your interview as well, not that you'll have many signs to look at before you die." She sniggers "I am personally going to make sure you die very slowly and painfully." No she won't.

I remain defiant. I don't make a noise as they cut my tongue. I am use to pain. I do almost gag on the blood, but still I don't even gargle, I just spit it out into Trusta's face. I hope Hallie never finds out about me being an avox. It would break her heart.

 **Hank's POV (D3M)**

I head straight over to the, well I'm not really sure what it's called, but the like electricity kind of station. It's learning the kind of stuff that helped my dad win the hunger games. It doesn't take me long to use the equipment at the station to make myself a taser, when I test it on a plant at the edible plants station. It blackens the whole thing. If I only I was guaranteed this equipment in the games, then I might just be able to win this. I know I can't just rely on my building skills, so I head to the archery station after dismantling it again.

I want to try and be capable of using a weapon that I can take my attackers out with from far away. I pick up a bow just as the two from 8 goes. I pick up a quiver of arrows and start aiming at the dummies. I aim for the heart on the first one and end up hitting the stomach. Well, it works I suppose. I aim again, this time I do hit the heart. I hope I'll be able to get my hands on a bow in the arena. It's unlikely that I'll be able to get my hands on the stuff I'll need to make electrical weapons, but if I can get really good with a bow it will definitely help. I practise until I always get exactly where I am aiming on the dummy. I know it won't be this easy in the arena. I doubt there will be any tributes that are just going to stand still and let me shoot them.

"Want me to through these fake birds for you to practise shooting at a moving target?" The instructor asks me.

"Yes." I nod, collecting my arrows. He chucks the first one but I miss it. I hit the next one, but only by an inch. This is a lot harder than before. The third one shoots through the sky, but is bought down by a swift arrow through the neck. I have to move to get the next one, but I still miss.

"Try holding your bow like this." The instructor says, adjusting my grip. I shoot the next one straight through the head. "Better." I'm starting to enjoy myself now I've got the hang of it, but I soon have to move on. I go to the sword fighting area, and take a few practise swings at a dummy. I'm not very strong, but the sword is light and is just the right length for me to jab in quickly. I go to the avoxes and ask for a sparring partner. A tall woman steps forwards, but an older man shoots her a look and steps forwards instead. He looks strangely familiar.

"Over here?" I suggest, he nods, but doesn't break eye contact, as if he's trying to tell me something. I can't stop thinking I recognise him. I bring my sword up to his chest, but he blocks it and tries to twist the sword out of my grip. "Oh. My. Gosh." I say, stunned. So stunned I drop my sword. "Is it you?" He nods. It had finally clicked in my brain. I had been so stupid. How had I not seen it? I should have known I might have seen him. I've never seen him face to face, but I have got a photo my mum gave me that the peacekeepers didn't find. He looks so different now. He has lost his puppy face and he hasn't got a beard now. "Dad?" I say. He smiles. "Mum's fine." He picks my sword up and passes it back to me. I guess this is going to be a pretty one sided conversation. "Are you allowed to leave this station to help another tribute somewhere else, or do you have to stay here?" I ask. "Nod if you can leave." I add, realising he can't talk. He nods "Okay, let's go to camouflage and I'll practise on you." I know this is a bad idea. I need all the time I can get for training. I've never met my dad though. I grab a pile of napkins from the snack area and we go through the trees to the camouflage section. I grab a couple of brushes and a some paints and we go to a quiet corner. I give him the napkins, some paint and a brush. "How are you?" I ask.

 _As well as I can be. I don't want to talk about me though. How are you and your mum coping?_ His writing is small and squiggly, just like mine.

"We're fine, how are they treating you?" I ask.

 _Better than move avoxes, I struck a deal with them so that I would still help improve their technology in return for not harming you or your mum. They have to treat me well enough to work. I get more food and better sleeping conditions than most._

"That's good." I smile. "I made a tasor earlier. How would I work it so I could make tasor arrows?" I hope he can tell me without showing me, it'll look suspicious otherwise.

 _Do you know how to set a delay?_

"Of course." I say. Does he think I'm dumb?

 _Build it as you normally would but use the arrow instead of some metal, then add a delay on it so that when it goes to a certain speed through the air, it turns the tasor on._

"Thanks." I say.

 _It's nothing. I built Katniss Everdeen's specially modified arrows myself from scratch._

"That's so cool." I've heard of those arrows. The explosive ones, and the fire ones. I wish I could have seen them in action.

 _Listen, well read, but it doesn't really matter. I suppose it does. Never mind. I don't think you being in the quell is a coincidence, I've tried listening about, to try and find out, but they say nothing in front of me, and there's no way I can hack the system when I'm working because I'm so heavily guarded. They claim it was a coincidence. I don't think so though._

"Don't worry." I say "I'm smart I can survive. I'll grab a few essentials from the cornucopia and run." He shakes his head as the gong for lunch goes.

 _We have to go now but Hank remember, if they want you dead, you'll die. They control who dies and who survives. I just hope you're not on the kill list. Bye._ He walks off to the sink and washes the swirls I had started to paint on his hand and walks out, leaving me with the napkins. It'll look suspicious if we are together again because they know he's my father, I just hope I at least see him again.

I go around a few of the survival stations after lunch, I don't want to hunt people down, I'll only kill if necessary so I need to have a wide variety of skills for each landscape in the arena. I keep trying to catch my dad's eye throughout the afternoon, but I think he's deliberately ignoring me.


	12. Chapter 11

**First 4 tributes of training day 2. Enjoy.**

 **Chapter 11**

 **Day 2 training**

 **Flynn's POV (D2M)**

Like yesterday, I head to the weapons station straight away. I grab two curved swords and strap them on my back. Then get a bow and shove a quiver of arrows on my back. Put 10 throwing knives inside my jacket and then I take a long dagger then head to the fighting stimulation section. I set it up on setting 10 – the hardest. Soon a figure of pixels appears and I shoot it, but almost immediately two more appear. I shoot them too, but then one spawns right behind me. It brings it's arm up to hit me. I block it with my bow, before grabbing my dagger out of my belt and stab it in the neck. Another spawns and tries to shoot me. I jump out of the way and shoot it. Then five more. I've now run out of arrows, so I chuck the bow and empty quiver away. I hold my dagger out to attack the next one to spawn. Three spawn around me. I kick the one in front of me, and stab it as it falls down. The other to chase me as I run and I quickly behead one and stab the other, I don't manage to pull the dagger out in time, before the figure vanishes to confirm it's dead. One appears about twenty feet away and starts running towards me and a throw one of the throwing knives at it.

"Got way more where that came from." I mutter, jumping over a fake log. I throw knife after knife until I have just my swords left, I pull them both out, turning to attack one of them to my right. This is the hardest setting they have? It's simple. I'll probably just do this in my individual training, it looks fancy and they'll be impressed.

"Pretty good." Elodie says as I step out.

"Pretty good?" I grin "I'd like to see you do better."

"Fine." She says, shoving past me to go into the room. I did better than her, she almost gets killed several times, the most I got that close to 'dying' was once, and it had spawned directly behind me with a spear straight after I had killed another. She comes out triumphantly though.

"I was better." I say.

"Were not." She says.

"Fine, I'll prove I was better, we'll have a competition, whoever is better at more weapons is better." I say, I'll beat her easily.

"You're on. Where first?" I walk to the throwing knives. I know she's not amazing at this, so we'll start here to make her nervous.

"You want to go first?" She offers me a knife.

"No, ladies first." I shake my head.

"But men just before." She slides it into my hands.

"Fine." I hold it up, aim and throw. Bullseye. She picks one up. She hits the second ring from centre. "Told you I was better." I grin triumphantly.

"Only at throwing knives. Sword fighting next." We head to the sword area and start fighting an avox each, we both disarm them within a few seconds, it's too close to call.

"Draw." I say, and she nods in agreement.

"Spear throwing?" She suggests.

"Sure, then archery, maces and whips." I add. She narrowly beats me on spears, putting us at a draw.

"Not feeling so confident now?" She grins.

"You wish." I say, grabbing a quiver and a bow. I shoot and hit bullseye. She shoots and hits bullseye. We're both equal at archery so it's just a case of waiting to see who makes a mistake first. In the end I just manage to beat her, her arrow wasn't straight, so it leant to the side slightly. We head to the maces.

"First one to destroy a dummy?" She suggests. I pick a hefty one up and nod. I'm stronger than her, so this should be an easy victory. It takes me about a minute for the metal dummy to lay on the floor, scratched up and I two pieces.

"I win then." I say, even if she wins the next one, I've beaten her by one.

"I know, fair enough, but let's still go to the whips." I nod. She's not a sore loser at least. I think she will be in the arena though. In the arena no one wants to be a loser. I dip the whip in red paint and flick the dummy, a red, slightly smudged line comes out. Elodie dips hers in the paint. A perfect thin line appears.

"That's pretty good." I nod reprovingly; I've never been able to get the hang of using a whip. Just then the lunch gong goes.

"Thanks, I'm starving; do you want to eat together?" She asks.

"No thanks." I say, I don't want to get close to anyone. "It's not you, but there's only one survivor and I want it to be me."

"Fair enough." She says and wanders through to the cafeteria. I follow, but sit at a separate table.

After eating lunch I head to the climbing wall. I don't want to spend all my time at the weapons stations. Stuff like swimming and climbing we didn't have access to at the academy in 2, so I want to use some of my time here practising. I start off on the medium wall; I don't want to look like a complete noob on the easy wall, but I know I won't be able to do the hardest wall yet, and I don't want to make a complete prat of myself by falling off halfway up.

I'm quite slow to start with, but as I get further up, I grow more confident and take less time to find hand holds. I'm not as good as the female tribute from 7: she's got the fastest time on the hardest wall ever in the whole history of the hunger games. She doesn't look like much, but I need to be wary all the same. She may be one of those people that do a Johanna Mason: act weak until the end, then kill viciously.

 **Caleb's POV (D9M)**

I've decided yesterday I'm not going down without a fight. I started with weapons yesterday, I'm okay with a mace because I'm quite strong and I'm quite good with a spear. Today I want to learn some survival skills. I don't want to stay at the cornucopia too long. If I do, a career is bound to kill me. I know there's no point in attempting the climbing wall because of my leg, but I do want to try to learn to swim. I want to be able to swim a little bit in case I have to. I know I'll struggle because of my leg, but it may well save my life.

I head to the edible insects station. I don't think I've seen anyone here, they probably don't want to have to eat insects, but I know in the arena I won't be picky. Any edible food I can get my hands on will help. I don't want to get killed in the bloodbath looking for food. I won't need to if I have good knowledge of edible plants and insects. I want to be able to hunt too, but that may be hard because my leg makes me walking loud and clumsy. Soon I can memorise the twenty most common edible insects and the twenty most common poisonous berries.

I move onto edible plants after that. I'm not so good at this, I keep getting similar plants muddled up and should be dead about ten times over, so I stay there until lunchtime, by which time I can identify all the common edible plants and all the common poisonous plants. I also know that if I don't recognise a plant, don't eat it. It's most likely poisonous, and it's better to go a little hungry than die from poisoning.

At lunch I sit with the people I sat with yesterday. We don't really talk; none of us are thick enough to get close to each other. We just eat in silence, one of us occasionally asking another to pass the basket of bread. The basket has a couple of rolls that are traditional from each district. The District 11 bread is hearty, full of seeds and nuts. Bread from my home, 9, is good too. We harvest grain so it's not flat bread. There are some advantages to 9, and risen bread is one of them. The District 4 bread has seaweed in and doesn't look particularly appetising to me, so I don't bother trying a bit. The Capitol have so much. Any food that's not eaten here at lunch just gets chucked away. There are people starving at home, in all the districts, and here they just waste food. They're just disgusting. I hate them. I understand they want to punish us because of the rebellion, but this isn't the way of doing it. Making us live in oppression and fear. It's not living at all, not really. I don't suppose I ever will. It's unlikely I'm going to win the games, but I'm not going down without a fight.

I head to the pool once I've finished. They direct me somewhere else though, apparently it's warm enough to use the outside pool. It's heated too. I get changed in the changing cubicles and head over to the shallow end of the pool. The instructor tries to show me how to tread water, but due to my leg I'm not very good so she teaches me how to float on my back instead. It's not ideal, but it's better than drowning. I just have to take a deep breath and go onto my back, my arms and legs splayed out, like the starfish they have in 4. The trick is the deep breath. As long as you keep taking deep breaths, you float. Then she shows me how to move my arms and legs to swim across the pool. I have to work my arms extra hard to make up for my left leg, which mainly just hangs out floppily. Despite this, I do pick it up quite quickly and practise backstroke as well. I prefer backstroke, I don't get water in my eyes so much and I can go faster. I'll probably have to stay on my front if I'm going into the arena though, I don't want to swim into a shark, or a tribute.

"Excellent, do you want to try diving for objects now?" The instructor asks. I shake my head, partly to say no, partly trying to get the water out. It's unlikely I'll need to dive for stuff. Instead I practise knot tying. At first, my fingers just fumble and end up getting tangled in the rope, but after a bit of practise I start to get the hang of it and know which knots are best in different situations. My fingers are slightly red and raw from the rope, but I can probably put a cream or salve on them back in my apartment.

 **Aria's POV (D1F)**

I dodge, I jump, I dodge I jump. Is this really the best they can throw at me? I've been training for this since I was 5 or 6. I've always known this is what I want to do. I reach the end of the course. It's faster than my time yesterday. I'm at what the instructors call the gauntlet. It's basically I series of platforms of different levels and I have to get from one end to the other as quickly as possible, but the instructors chuck padded clubs to try to slow us down. I find it relatively easy, tributes that aren't in as good shape don't though. It's good practise for the games. Who knows what they might throw at you. I think Katniss Everdeen would have benefitted more by going to this station, as it may have saved her from being burnt by the fireballs. It is designed to help in scenarios like this. When being a good fighter won't help you. Being speedy and agile will. I've worked incredibly hard on those two things as they are the death of lots of the careers in the games. It's rarely weapons. They get cocky and forget that the game makers can lay traps that don't involve fighting. I won't though.

Then I head to the rope station. If I need to travel overhead it will help. Agility helps once again here. Agility and strength. I swing from rope to rope, gripping carefully so I don't fall off. My arms start to ache after a while, but I carry on going, we don't have this sort of equipment at the training academy, just weapons and a couple of exercise bikes if we could get them working, so I have to make the most of my time here. I make it around the whole course fairly quickly and decide to head to the combat simulation. I want to practise my trident skills. I know both of the tributes from 4 are excellent with them, which means I need to be too. I grab a trident and put the setting onto 8. I want it to be a challenge but I don't want it to be so hard I get killed in seconds. A holo-figure appears in front of me and tries to chuck a holo-spear, I duck and stab it in the chest. It disappears. Another appears.

"Do you want to try again on a higher setting?" The instructor asks, as I come out, sweating slightly.

"No." I say, I put the trident back and decide where to go next. I'm confident with a trident now, but it's not my weapon of choice, it's awkward for me to carry and there's other weapons I'm better with. I realise that hammock making won't be a bad station to visit, due to the quell, it's unlikely I'll be able to get my hands on a tent. A hammock will still be relatively comfortable though. I can just set up traps around me to make sure no one kills me in my sleep. I'm a relatively light sleeper anyway.

"Hey!" The instructor at this station is way too peppy, but I don't think anyone's actually visited this station yet. He shows me how to clip the material at each end and shows me the best types of trees and the best distances between the trees to hang it from. Then he gives me my own bit of material and clips to do it myself. It takes a couple of attempts, but soon a have slightly wonky hammock laying in between the artificial trees at this station.

"Is this okay?" I ask, I don't want to think I can do it and then have it collapse on me in the arena.

"Test it and see." The instructor grins. It's a bit wonky so my head is higher than my feet, but it's still quite stable and comfy. I get down and take it off from the trees and am just trying to work out what other skills will be useful when the gong for lunch goes.

"Aria, want to sit with us?" Flynn calls out as I walk past the table he and the two tributes from 4 are on.

"Okay." I say, turning around and sitting on one of the spare seats.

"What have you been doing then?" Flynn asks me.

"The gauntlet, rope course, tridents and hammocks." I tick off in my head. "You?"

"Just weapons, mainly swords. They're way better here than back home." Flynn says. So he's the typical brawn over brain career. I doubt he'll bother going any stations that involve thinking. He's an idiot like that "What about you two?" Flynn asks the two from 4.

"Mainly weapons the academy couldn't afford." One answers.

"Same." Says the other.

"Such as?" Flynn persists.

"I'm not saying." The first one says "It might give away what I'm really good at." They're smart. I don't know which tribute they are, because of the serum we were given, but whichever they are, they're smart.

Once I've finished eating, I head to the first aid station. It's always good to know some first aid in the games, lots of people die from infected wounds. I want to know stuff like this that most careers don't bother with. I'm smarter than most careers though.

Soon I have learnt how to make a makeshift splint if I break my leg, how to correctly bandage an arm and I know several different healing herbs and their uses.

 **Callum's POV (D5M)**

Yesterday I mainly spent the day learning survival skills. I think they'll be more useful to me than weapons. I don't plan on hunting anyone down, I just want to survive. If someone attacks me, yes I will try to kill them, but I'm not a murderer. I'm just going to do what I have to do to survive. I think I'll spend today looking for a weapon, I want to be able to defend myself.

I start off with knives. They don't look particularly hard to use and they are almost always at the cornucopia. The instructor shows me a few basic moves to begin with and I attempt them on the dummy. I'm not especially good with them, but I could gut someone if they weren't especially skilled.

Next I go to the slingshot section. I've heard they're one of the easiest weapons to use. I grab one of the slingshots and about ten sharp stones and head to the targets. The first one misses by miles and almost hits one of the tributes from 1 while they're training on the gauntlet. Oops. The second one isn't much better. The third misses the target by inches. The fourth goes wonky and almost takes an avox's eye out. On the 5th attempt, I finally hit the target. It's only the outer ring but it's still an achievement. The 6th misses. 7th and 8th also hit the outside ring. 9th misses and the 10th hits the second to outside ring. Somehow, I don't think this is the weapon for me.

I try the sickle next. I know it's one of the more unusual weapons, so I'm less likely to find it at the cornucopia, but if the game makers see I'm skilled with it, they'll probably put it there. The instructor shows me how to hold it so I don't end up slicing my hands off and I start by attacking the dummy. I'm not amazing with it, but I'm a lot better than I was with the slingshot. I decide to practise with an avox. They pick up a sickle to and I go in for an attack, they block and then go in for an attack. I quickly block it. It goes on like this for a while, until I get slow and don't manage to block an attack in time. The sickle falls from my hand with a crash. Maybe another weapon.

I try swords. I pick a fairly light one so I can lift it and start to jab it at the dummy. It's hard work and soon I'm too tired to carry on. I'm starting to think a knife is my best option. There's only really whips, spears and tridents left. I'm too tired to do any of them now so I just go to the knot tying station to learn a couple of useful knots.

I pick it up quickly and I can soon weave bits of rope into intricate knots and traps. Well, I know I can catch tributes now, it's just killing them that's the issue. The lunch gong goes just then, so I guess I'll have to try the last three weapons after lunch.

I sit on my own, trying to work out what I'll do in front of the game makers tomorrow. Maybe I can show them my knot tying skills. I doubt they'll be very impressed though. They will probably only rate me high if I can use a weapon. One of the tributes from District 11 comes up to me while I'm eating.

"Mind if I sit with you?" I shake my head. There's no point in being plain rude to the other tributes, I don't want to kill any of them. It's just survival, right? We eat together in silence, not really looking at each other. They eat a lot quicker than I do so they're soon off and training again. I am a slow eater so I'm one of the last people in the canteen.

I take my last bite and hurry through back to find a weapon. I head to the whip station as it's the only empty one. I don't want to make a complete prat of myself in front of the other tributes. Even if they only know which district I'm from. I dip the end of the whip in paint then flick it at a dummy. I thick blobby line comes out. I wipe it off and try again. The same thing happens. The instructor comes over and shows me the proper way to flick my wrist and how to position myself. I try again and this time it's not as wobbly and blobby. I keep trying but I can never get the thin straight line I'm aiming for. I guess this weapon also isn't for me.

There's only one of the tributes from 6 there. I pick one up, it's pretty heavy. I start by throwing it at the target, but it's soon clear I'm way too weak for it, so I start to spar with an avox with it. I'm terrible at that too. I can't hold it properly and instead of the avox disarming me, I end up dropping it on my foot. It really hurts. I just hope I can use a spear well now.

I pick the lightest spear there so I don't have any trouble with lifting it and start throwing it at a target. I don't miss which is an encouraging sign. It doesn't hit bullseye either though. I fetch it and throw it again, I hit fairly close to the centre ring this time. As I keep practising, I never hit the dead centre. Always fairly close though. I'm not amazing at it, but I'm much better than any other weapons, I've just got to hope I'll be able to get one without getting killed in the bloodbath.


	13. Chapter 12

**This update's a bit shorter, but I've been getting writer's block so it took my almost 5 hours to write it. Anyway I'll try to get the next chapter which will be individual training out in the next few days. Hope you enjoy, and please let me know what you think.**

 **Chapter 12**

 **Isla's POV (D4F)**

People at the Capitol are really starting to annoy me. I keep getting messages about how they rooted for Antony and were so upset when he died, and they will root for me too. Why would I care? I only care if you want me to win if you're a sponsor. And I definitely don't care if you wanted Antony to win. I didn't. He died in the arena, but he still left his mark. My parents still constantly told me he was better than me. If I win the games, they might finally accept me. Or not.

I'm going to spend most of my time in the Capitol practising with weapons, building up my physical health and learning how to hunt. I learnt hunting yesterday, if I have a slingshot, bow and arrows, a spear or throwing knives I'm pretty good. I should be able to get my hands on at least one of them in the arena. I mean I'll be one of the main killers in the bloodbath.

I head to the throwing knives station. I want to go around lots of the weapons this morning and then practise climbing, the rope course, the gauntlet and weights this afternoon. I throw the first one. It slices through the air and hits exactly where I'm aiming. I pick the next one up, this time aiming slightly higher. I flick my wrist and let go. It glides towards the dummy and hits the mark again. I carry on until I've practically turned the dummy into a porcupine. Other people on this station are starting to give me the evil eyes. I didn't realise how many of the knives I had used up.

I walk up to the dummy and pull 5 of them off and put them back. I keep doing this until I've yanked all the knives out.

I go to the slingshot station next. Most people don't really see it as a proper weapon. They just think it's pathetic. I'll be honest, it is a bit, but if you don't have any other long ranged weapons it can be very useful. I'll only use it in absolute emergency. Someone is just leaving, judging by their expression, they weren't very good at it. I pick up one of the stones and aim. I hit exactly where I'm aiming. I keep practising until I'm sure I would be able to kill someone with it in my sleep. Well, maybe not literally in my sleep, that'd be practically impossible, but a few seconds after waking up.

Next I head to swords. They're one of my favourite weapons. I pick up a long curving one and attack a dummy. The long silver blade clashes against the metal dummy and cuts through it, fairly easily. I realise I've picked up one of the best swords here. Normally a metal sword on a metal dummy would only leave a small scratch, but this one is incredibly sharp and just slices straight through it, like it's butter. I keep swinging and jabbing, refining my technique before putting that sword back and taking a double edged sword. I go to the combat simulation room. I don't want to practise against an avox, they'll be easy to beat. I want to see what level I can get up to on the combat simulation so I set it to 8 and enable the holo-figures to have weapons and different varieties of weapons.

I step into the room, it instantly transforms into a desert setting. The temperature increases dramatically and above me a light, which I presume simulates the sun, turns on. The sand to my right is vibrating slightly so I'm not surprised when I turn that way a holo-figure is already running at me. It has a spear in its hand, but I easily knock it out of the way and stab the holo-figure. It disappears quickly and another appears over a sand dune. It tries to shoot me, but I deflect the arrow with my sword and slaughter that one too.

By the time I've completed it, I am sweating lots and once I've taken the sword back I head to the rest area. I grab a bottle of fruity flavoured energy drink and sit down. I down the whole bottle in a few gulps and then go to the food machine. I click a few buttons and out pops a small bowl of chicken noodles. Capitol technology amazes me so much. They have so much stuff and out in the districts we struggle just to feed ourselves. I quickly eat the bowl which stops my stomach from rumbling and head back to the training.

I head for the spear station and start practising my throwing. Spears aren't my weapon of choice but the computer screen linked with the targets of the dummy tells me that I have 80% accuracy on delivering fatal wounds. For a career, that's pretty low. I think it's because i use a trident a lot, which are way heavier so I'm not used to the lightness of it. It needs a lot of improvement though. I like my accuracy to be at 90% at least. By lunch I've achieved this and I walk to the canteen, despite the noodles I ate earlier, I'm starving.

"Hey." I say, sitting down at the table my district partner, Phoenix, who is also sitting with one of the tributes from 1. I take a bit of everything from the dishes laid out on our table. The tribute from 1 calls their district partner over to sit with us as I take some of what is labelled 'Egg fried rice' and then I pick up another dish labelled 'Beef in a black bean sauce'. I don't know what a black bean is, but when we can get beef in 4, I love it, so I pour quite a bit onto my plate before grabbing some 'Chicken and beef in a sweet and sour sauce'. They really do eat a lot of meat here. Instead of a basket with bread from each district there is a basket labelled 'Sesame seed and prawn toast'. It looks kinda weird, but I'm starving so I load my plate up with several slices.

"What have you been doing then?" One of the tributes from 1 asks the other.

"The gauntlet, rope course, tridents and hammocks." She lists before adding "You?" as an afterthought.

"Just weapons, mainly swords. They're way better here than back home." They reply. He's probably the one that was training next to me when I was practising on the dummy. He sounded lethal. "What about you two?" They ask us.

"Mainly weapons the academy couldn't afford." Phoenix replies before I can swallow the surprisingly nice toast in my mouth.

"Same." I add, finally swallowing. I mean, most of the stuff I was training we did have at the academy, but as Antony always told me 'Let them think you're weaker than you are'. Actually why am I listening to his advice? He ended up dead. Well I suppose that was my fault. I'm not sure how. According to my parents it was though.

"Such as?" They really are persistent. I'm not giving anything away though.

"I'm not saying." Phoenix is smarter than I thought. He's worked out it might be used against him later. "It might give away what I'm really good at."

We sit in silence for the rest of lunch. I end up eating almost all the sesame seed and prawn toast. It's gorgeous. I could literally eat it all day. It reminds me of home a little. With the prawns. Not that I ever felt wanted much at home. Particularly in the last year. Everything was always about Antony. Antony this. Antony that. Why can't you be more like Antony? Anyway, I've left all that behind now.

I didn't have time to go around all the weapons, so I go to axes for a bit and then skip the rest and go to the weights. I like weight lifting. I don't know why. Most people just find it tiring. I'm pretty strong though so I can pick up and fling the heavy ones pretty far. It won't help me that much in the arena, except in hand to hand combat maybe, but it's never a bad thing to be strong.

 **Elodie's POV (D2F)**

As soon as we are allowed to go off, I head to the axe throwing station. I finished there yesterday, but I want more time to practise. I see Flynn head to the combat simulation room. I was pretty surprised when I saw him in action yesterday. He'd never been trained before and he was really good. I hate to admit it, but maybe even better than me. I don't even know how. I guess he's just got pure talent. When he finishes in the simulation room I go over.

"Pretty good." I smile, as if challenging him.

"Pretty good?" He grins "I'd like to see you do better." He's taken the bait, I want to see how good he really is.

"Fine." I say shoving past him to go into the room. Once I'm in the room, I realise I didn't pick up a weapon, but it's too late for that now. I'll just have to make do. Anyway I can't perform my best, because he'll see me as a threat otherwise.

The first one spawns right behind me and throws a knife at me, it clatters to the ground and I grab it. I can defend myself better now.

"I was better." He says when I come out triumphantly. He's such a liar.

"Were not." I retort. He had a tonne of weapons when he went in, I only had weapons that they attacked me with. It was completely unfair.

"Fine, I'll prove I was better, we'll have a competition, whoever is better at more weapons is better." He says, I want to say yes, just to prove him wrong, but I know I have to let him win.

"You're on. Where first?" He walks to the throwing knives. He thinks I'm not very good at these. Mainly because yesterday I pretended to only be average. He's pretty good with them. "You want to go first?" I offer him a sharp knife.

"No, ladies first." He shakes his head. Urgh! That's so sexist.

"But men just before." I slide it slowly into the palm of his hand. I know he'll be too competitive to think about what level of deadliness he should be revealing to me.

"Fine." He holds it up and throws. He hits bullseye. He's probably getting arrogant now. I pick one up. I deliberately aim for the second ring from centre, and hit where I'm aiming. "Told you I was better." He grins triumphantly. Yup definitely arrogant. It's just going to get worse, but I want to know his strengths and weaknesses.

"Only at throwing knives. Sword fighting next." I reply, I'll probably actually try at this one. We head to the sword area and start fighting an avox each, we both disarm them within a few seconds, it's too close to call. He is pretty good, I will admit.

"Draw." He says. I nod, he's probably right.

"Spear throwing?" I ask. I'll beat him on this one. I hate spear throwing, but I'm still good at it.

"Sure, then archery, maces and whips." He adds. I beat him on spears making it a draw, but I know I have to let him win. So he's big-headed and overconfident. "Not feeling so confident now?" I taunt.

"You wish." He says, grabbing a quiver and a bow. He shoots and hit bullseye. He's definitely got talent. I shoot and also hit bullseye. I have to act worse than I am because he's really good at archery. I don't want to look completely terrible so I deliberately pick a wonky arrow so it'll go slightly to the side. Julius clearly sees that it wasn't my fault, but still declares it has his victory.

"First one to destroy a dummy?" I suggest as we go to the maces. He pick a hefty one up and nod. He thinks he's stronger than me but he doesn't know that so he'll think he's better than it at me. I let him win. It takes him about a minute for the metal dummy to lay on the floor, scratched up and in two pieces. Mine just has a lot of scratches, but it's deliberate. He's won now.

"I win then." He grins, he knows that if I win the next one, he'll still have won.

"I know, fair enough, but let's still go to the whips." He nods. He dips the whip in red paint and flicks the dummy, a red, slightly smudged line comes out. I also dip my whip in paint. I flick. A perfect thin line appears. Whips are one of my best weapons.

"That's pretty good." He nods reprovingly. Just then the lunch gong goes.

"Thanks, I'm starving; do you want to eat together?" I ask, maybe I can find more out about him.

"No thanks." He says, maybe he's not as dumb as I thought. "It's not you, but there's only one survivor and I want it to be me."

"Fair enough." I say and wander through to the cafeteria, I can hear Julius following behind me. I sit on my own and pile my dish up with 'Egg fried rice'. It's just about the only thing on the table that doesn't have meat in it. I'm not vegetarian because of moral beliefs, I just hate the taste. I take a small nibble of 'Sesame seed and prawn toast', thinking the prawn won't be very powering, but it is. I almost spit it out. I manage to swallow it without gagging and don't touch anymore of it. It's a good thing I like the rice stuff.

I go to the climbing wall after lunch. I find it quite easy to climb because I'm strong. I'm nowhere as good as the girl from 7. She's just… Well, she's more like half monkey, half human. I hope I never have to hunt her down in a woods. I'd lose her in seconds.

 **Helena's POV (D8F)**

I'm pretty tired, last night Hecate and I taught each other the survival stuff we learnt when we split up. This morning we decide to hit the swimming pool. I can't swim well, and Hecate can't swim at all. We're given wetsuits to put on and then I head straight in. The instructor starts to show Hecate the basics as I start to swim lengths slowly.

I start to get a bit quicker as I practise more. Hecate seems to be struggling some more. The instructor seems to be getting a bit frustrated though.

"Come on." I say. "I'll teach you." I pull him over to the edge and show him how to move his legs, but when I go under water to watch, I can see why he's struggling. I stay under a bit more than was strictly necessary, but the wetsuit is tight and shows his chest looks so sexy in it. "You're not going to go anywhere if you keep doing that."

"Doing what?" Hecate looks confused.

"Kicking the top part of your legs but not below the knees."

"I thought I only needed to kick the top half." He grins.

"Well you thought wrong then, didn't you?" I grin, swimming closer and giving him a quick kiss. When he starts kicking his feet, he starts getting somewhere. "See, much better."

"You're such a good teacher." Hecate smiles, as we swim together. "What do you want to do now?" He says a while later once we're dry.

"I don't mind, you can choose." I say.

"Hunting?" He suggests.

"Okay," And we start to head over there when the lunch gong goes. I didn't realise how long we were in the pool. "I guess we'll have to wait until after lunch." I say as we walk to the table we sat at yesterday. Like yesterday I've never even heard of most of the dishes. Seriously how can a sauce be sweet and sour? It's just weird. It tastes surprisingly good though. Actually I'm not that surprised. All the food I've had since the reaping's has been good.

"Hunting then?" Hecate smiles once we're both finished. I nod and lead the way. We're the only people here.

"Do you two know anything about hunting?" They guy there asks. We both shake our heads. "Okay, this'll take some time then." He shows us how to tread carefully on the ground so that we don't crack twigs or crunch dry leaves. Then he explains that if we need a water source it's a good idea to not kill any animals we find. It's better to follow them because they will have to have water to survive so they will lead us to one sooner or later. Soon he sets up like a mini version of the combat simulation with little holo-animals moving around and we have to stalk and kill them.

We both use bows and arrows to do this because they are much easier than swords. We don't have to get anywhere near as close so there's a less chance of frightening them off. We end up pretty good after a few hours practise, so as long as we can get our hands on a bow at the cornucopia, we won't be going hungry.


	14. Chapter 13

**This chapter is some of the individual trainings in detail. I haven't written them for every tribute because a lot of the stuff would be similar so it would be boring to read and write. Next chapter is going to be the training scores and the tribute's reactions. I will be doing all the tributes for this, but I will add a short overview of what each tribute did in the individual training so you can either a) remind yourself of roughly what they did or b) find out what they did, so you know how they got their score. As usual please drop a review I love receiving them, even if you don't like the story TELL ME, I'm writing it for you guys after all, how am I supposed to write it so you like it if I don't know what you want it to be like? Anyway, hope you enjoy.**

 **Chapter 13**

 **Individual Training**

 **Flynn's POV (D1M)**

I'm the first one to be called through. They always start with the District 1 male tribute then District 1 female and so on until District 11. That's a good thing for me. The game makers tend to get bored towards the end and don't pay attention, I'm first though, they won't be bored, they'll be expecting something good too. I'm not going to disappoint them. I want to get at least a 10. My mentor says I should.

"You have 15 minutes to present your chosen skill." Grayson says from the game maker table as I walk in. I head to the sword section and take two long curving ones and then get five avoxes to come and fight me. I swing my sword up to block the first attack, but twist my sword around at the last minute, to force the avox to either break his wrist or drop the sword. He chose the former. One down already. The second was slightly more challenging. I could tell she was way more skilled. Maybe she just always ends up on swords every year. I don't know. We spend a few minutes sparring. She was an excellent sparring partner to be fair. She could predict and block most of my attacks, as I could with her. We go back and forth across the training room, attacking and blocking. Attacking and blocking. Back and forth. Until she finally doesn't anticipate a feint and I trip her up and kick her sword away before she can get a firm grip. I turn to the next one. She's easy compared to the last one. Just a flurry of attacks, one after the other and she made a simple mistake, allowing me to flick the sword easily from her hand. Three down two to go. The last two attack together. This may have been a problem if one of them had been the skilled one, but it's obvious from about 5 seconds of sparring with them that neither of them have really held a sword before in their lives.

That was easy. The game makers all look pretty impressed but I still have some time to kill so I drag several dummies nearby the rope course and take a bow and quiver of arrows. I go around the rope course, I've swung the bow over one shoulder so that it doesn't interfere with hanging on. My amrs are throbbing slightly, but I push through the pain. It'll be worth it for a decent score. I swing from rope to rope. Every time I pass a dummy I shoot it, twice: once through the head, the other through the heart. I always hit straight on mark. It's weird though. I'm used to there being so much noise when I shoot. Now there's just the twang of the string, the bonk of the arrow hitting mark, the quiet scribbles and whispers from the game makers, and occasionally my grunts from the effort of holding myself up and shooting. Usually there's people talking. Laughter. The sound of sword attacking. Whips being whipped. Axes thudding. I guess I'll have to get used to it. There won't be much noise in the arena.

"Thank you, you may now leave." Grayson says as the rest of the game makers scribble away. I'm pretty sure that should deserve I high score. If not, I don't know what will.

 **Hank's POV (D3M)**

I know exactly what I'm going to do. I think I've spent my time training wisely. I've learnt how to hunt and find edible insects and plants. I didn't bother learning how start a fire, that'd only alert people of my whereabouts. I don't want that. I've been practising archery a lot and I think I'll have enough time to put my plan into action. I think if it works, I could get a 6 or even a 7 for my training score. That'd get me a few sponsors. I only wish that we're allowed to say what we do in our individual training, lots of people would probably be impressed. I'd probably get more sponsors. I guess that being from a more outlying district will help though. People from 3 barely ever get more than a 5 as their training score. People will start looking out for me. I hope.

"You have 15 minutes to present your chosen skill." The head game maker says. I rush and grab an arrow from the archery then go to the electronics area. I know I'm really up against the clock. I should do it though. Providing there are no problems.

I twist the wire around the arrow tightly to make sure it won't affect the aerodynamics of it. I have to make sure I do it sleekly, or the arrow won't fly. I soon forget about all the game makers watching me. It's like I'm just working on a project back home.

I just have to set the delay now. I have made like a mini makeshift radio control thing, so it should fire when I want it to. I look up at the game makers, half of them look bored out of their wits, the other half look intrigued. I only have a couple of minutes left. I take the arrow and run to the archery station. I grab a bow. I can't mess this shot up.

I load the arrow into the notch, I fumble a little because I have the small control in my hand as well. I hold the bow up and pull the string back. I take a while to aim but I soon let go. I bring my bow down and push the button on the control. I beam of light comes out of the arrow and blasts at the dummy I aimed at. I dummy blackens and then the arrow pierces it straight into the heart of the dummy. I look at the game makers. Most of them look shocked.

"Erm. Thank you, you may now leave." Grayson says, sounding surprised. I guess none of them were expecting that. I guess they forgot that I'm Betee Latier's son.

 **Phoenix's POV (D4M)**

When I walk in, the game makers sit up expectantly. I guess they must have got bored between the last career and me. Because it goes District 1 then 2 then 3 then 4, they have to watch 2 tributes who are probably useless before they can watch the rest of the careers.

I go to the sword section and pick two up. I strap it to my back, then grab some throwing knives and put them inside my jacket and grab a sickle. I go to the combat simulation room and set it up for 9 out of 10 on difficulty and add mutts on.

When I go in, I suddenly start shivering. I always forget that to make it more realistic they change the landscape each time. This time it's tundra. I raise the sickle as a holo-figure appears in front of me. I slice it down on its neck before it can attack me with its spear. It crumbles into nothingness. An arrow wizzes past my ear I spin around quickly and duck as a holo-figure shoots another. I charge at it and quickly stab it in the head with the sickle. It vanishes but two most immediately spawn, both of them with swords. Their swords both have a long reach than my sickle, so I know it would be unwise to attack them straight out. I run for a little way, putting distance between us, before dropping the sickle and taking out a throwing knife. They are getting closer than I like, one straight behind the other. I fling the knife at the first one's heart and it sails straight through and into the second one's too. They both vanish. I don't have time to pick my sickle back up before another is firing at me with a slingshot. I grab the first of my swords from my back and weave through the sharp holo-stones until l reach it. Defenceless this close up, it tries to punch me, but it exposes its chest and I swipe in a huge arc across it. It's too shallow to be a kill shot, but now it's wounded it's easy to stab in the heart now.

When I come out, I look up at the game makers. Some look pretty impressed, some only mildly so. I still have 5 minutes to kill so I head to the climbing wall. I strap myself up on the highest route and start to go up. I had a practise on this earlier so I know roughly where I need to put my hands and feet. I get about ¾ of the way up before my time runs out.

"Thank you, you may now leave." I did all I could, I guess now I have to wait. I did well though, hopefully an 8 or above.

 **Attaya's POV (D6F)**

The weirdest thing about being in the Capitol has been being clean. It's the first time, well I can't remember, where I haven't been high on morphling. I start to get butterflies in my stomach when they call me through.

I still have no idea what I'm going to do. I've spent the past couple of days learning how to start fires, climb, swim, learning about edible plants and insects, knot tying and I even had a small go at using a knife. I'm okay at the edible plant and insect stuff. I find it easy; I have a good memory. I doubt they'll be impressed though at that though. I'll probably only get a 3 or 4. I'm not very good at anything else though.

"You have 15 minutes to present your chosen skill." The head game maker says. I only really I have one option so I head to the big screen thing with pictures of a tonne of different plants and insects on. I have to sort them into edible and not.

The first few are relatively easy. Simple stuff like blueberries and cockroaches. After the first 7 or so, it gets more difficult. Lots of them look very similar, but have tiny black dots on instead or something so it's much easier to have the actual plant or insect with you so you can feel the texture or look closer at it. I work out where the zoom in button is though, which makes my life a whole lot easier. I finish in 5 minutes and I got them all right. I guess spending all my time at the edible plants/insects station paid off. A couple of the game makers look mildly impressed. Most people probably make at least one mistake.

I'm not sure what to do for the remaining ten minutes, but maybe they'll score me a little higher if they can see how quickly I can start a fire. When I first went there I just watched a couple of other tributes do it and I just copied them. It turns out I was one of the fastest tributes at fire making though. The training instructor for that station thought I used matches. I grab a long, fairly thick piece of wood and press it against a log, rubbing my hands up and down it. Soon a wisp of smoke appears and I get some dry leaves ready and when a tiny flame appears, I light some, before putting them onto a pile of dry wood, which quickly catches alight.

When I look at the clock, I see I still have 5 minutes to spare. I've shown my main skills though. I waste about 30 seconds before hurrying to the ropes station. I grab the longest rope there and chuck it up to the pole that is two meters or so above the ground. I jump up on a table and tie it securely so it doesn't just undo at the slightest bit of force applied then jump down again. I start tying the other end. I learnt this knot on day 1, I'm not sure how helpful it will be in the arena but I guess if I don't have a weapon but rope it could be useful. I could just strangle them though. I look up at the clock. 30 seconds left. Grayson looks like he's just about to stop me, but I quickly slide a dummy's neck into the rope and give it a tug. The rope pulls the dummy up and it hangs forlornly with just seconds to spare.

I face the game makers. Not many look impressed. I wasn't really expecting them to be, they like gore, not someone who can start a fire and tell the difference between poisonous plants and edible ones.

"Thank you. You may now leave." Grayson says, and I walk to the elevator slowly. As I press the down button, my heart drops as I hear one mutter:

"That's a bloodbath kill." I did try my best after all.

 **Ciaran's POV (D7M)**

I'm pretty nervous. What happens in that room, may affect whether I die or not in the arena. If I get a big score, it'll make the sponsors have their eyes on me. I'm going to need a lot of sponsors if I want to survive. I'm not very good at the survival stuff. I can't really use most weapons either. I know I'll have to risk the bloodbath to get gear, but I know if I don't I'll die anyway. It'll be worth the risk if I can get my hands on food, water and an axe.

In my individual training I'm going to do just about the only thing I'm good at. I've practised tonnes of things since training started, but I'm only really good at one weapon. I'm going to be the typical District 7 tribute. Yup. Axes.

I've been using then since I was little. Most tributes from 7 use axes. I can throw them pretty accurately as well as in close combat.

"You have 15 minutes to present your chosen skill." The head game maker says as I walk in. I look up at them. They look pretty bored already. Great. I probably won't be getting as high a score as I would if I had been earlier. I pick up an axe and chuck it at a dummy. It embeds into the dummy's heart with a solid thump. I walk over to it and yank it out. I aim and throw. I keep doing this. Aim and throw. Collect. Aim and throw. Collect aim and throw. A few game makers are starting to pay a bit more attention now. Most of them are more interested in laughing, chatting and drinking. Some of them are already pretty drunk. They're talking pretty loudly and their voices are really slurred.

I pick up a slightly lighter one and call an avox over. We spar for a while. I easily disarm them though. There's still a couple of minutes left to go, but I don't have anything more to show that will get me a higher score, so I just chuck a few weights around. I think I should get a 5 or 6. If I was a career it would probably be 7 or 8, but not many were paying attention. At most half of them were.

"How did it go?" My escort asks as I get in.

"They weren't paying attention." I say, storming through to my room. Why do I have to come to a district that no one pays attention to? These games are just rigged so the careers are most likely to win.

 **Lily's POV (D9M)**

I've been practising and I've found a weapon I'm pretty good at. I also spent some time at the survival stations, but I'm not going to show those skills because game makers want to know we can spill blood, not that we know how to find plants to keep us alive.

When I walk into the training room, it is, at first, eerily quiet. Then the game makers start to chat again, by this point most of them completely and utterly smashed. Even the head game maker, Grayson, seems pretty red in the face.

"You have 15 minutes t-" Here he lets out a huge belch. Gross. "Oops. Sorry." The over game makers laugh. "You have 15 minutes to present your chosen skill." He manages to say it on his 2nd attempt. This isn't a good sign, but there's nothing I can do about it.

I walk straight over to the knife throwing area, and grab a tonne of the knives and then go to the combat simulation room. I set it up to 4, I know it's a low setting, but I'm not amazing, and I don't want to look stupid by setting it up to a really high level. Just as I'm about to go in, I notice a small box at the bottom. I wonder what it is. I press it and a password box comes up. I figured the Capitol would be pretty dumb on their password choice so I just guess 'Trusta' and it lets me in. It comes up with an option to make sure the holo-figures don't 'kill' you. I press it and after 30 seconds more of fiddling around with it basically make it so I can't lose. My training score should be pretty high. I go back and change the setting to 10 and step inside.

In the time I spent fiddling, the few game makers that were watching, have become distracted and aren't watching. I pull out my first knife and send it flying into the shoulder of the first holo-figure. It's not an amazing shot, it certainly wouldn't kill anyone. Slow them down maybe, but certainly not kill. Not for a while anyway. It may kill you slowly if it got infected. The holo-figure disappears though. Must be one of the effects of my fiddling. The game makers are starting to look impressed, clearly they believed that a shot like that would actually kill. They're dumb.

My next shot probably would have killed someone. Straight into the guts. Two more spawn nearby. I take one knife and just stab it in the heart, and then through it through the head of the other one.

My time is almost up by the time I finish, the game makers have clearly started paying attention, because they look stunned that a girl from 9 has that many skills. I can understand that. I mean, I don't have that much skill. Just luck. It feels like the first time since before the reaping I have had any luck.

 **Maximus' POV (D10M)**

There's only four of us left when they call me through. When I walk in, I am surprised to see, though most of them very drunk, they are all paying attention. I had heard the rumours about them getting so drunk they don't pay attention.

I consider going to the fire lighting station, I liked it there on day 1 with Vincent. I don't think the game makers will be impressed though. I'm quite strong because I grew up in a community home. The older kids always tried to beat you up for food and money and then you grew up and became an older kid and did exactly the same. It meant I was strong, strong to first escape a fight, and then later to start a fight. I head to the sword section and dig through the swords for one the right weight. At the bottom, I find a long double bladed one. I pick it up, and drag several metal dummies to form a circle and then I go in it. I start attacking them. The first stab is directed at the head, and once the blade is in, I push up on the handle, and launch myself onto the dummies chest and pull it out, while twisting around to stab the opposite dummy in the guts.

I soon get into a routine. Stab, move to the next dummy bring my sword across in a wide arc across the chest. Spin around for the next. Leap onto it, stabbing its back in the process. It's acutally quite fun. It requires a lot of energy though, so I have to conserver it. I sometimes bring the sword above my head, for the larger dummies and spin it around to constantly swipe the dummy's head.

By the time I've finished with them they're well. Not too different from when I started. I wasn't strong enough to do more than scratch them, apart from the first one which I leapt off. Nearly all of them are laying on the floor with tiny scratches in them. Oh well. I tried my best. I thought I had used all my time, but when I look up at the big clock, I still have 5 minutes left. I go to the whip station. I'm fairly good with them, I do come from 10 after all.

Soon one of the metal dummies has lots of fine red marks covering it. The red is just paint that I dipped the whip in to show where I was actually hitting because it can be hard to see.

"Thank you, you may leave." Grayson says as I raise the whip again. I look at the clock. I still have two more minutes left. Surely they aren't allowed to do that? I flick the whip angrily at the clock, and it hits it so hard the glass on it smashes. One game maker lets out a small squeak of terror. I fling the whip in my hand across to the other side of the room as I storm out. Maybe my act with the clock will educate them in how to read the time. Never put Maximus Halington at a disadvantage. Not even if it's only ending his individual training 2 minutes early.

 **Thalia's POV**

I'm the last person to go in for my individual training. I should be going soon, my district partner's been gone for quite a while. Sure enough:

"Thalia Cortis please report for individual assessment." A voice on the intercom says and I get up and go through, slightly nervous. I know exactly what I'm going to do.

"You have 15 minutes to present your chosen skill." Grayson says, and I'm off. I grab a knife and some wire from the traps station and set up 3 or 4 basic traps around the camouflage area. I've been practising camouflaging myself as quickly as possible in this area, and I think I just about have enough time. I put the knife down and put on a body suit and quickly start. I don't need to paint my whole body because I'm going to go amongst the fake bushes and shrubbery on the floor, so I can lie underneath them. I can hear faint murmurs from the game makers. I guess they like to see what I'm doing.

"Should I go down?" One whispers.

"Yes." Grayson replied. I scramble under the bush, but carefully so as not to rub the paint. I don't think they'll be able to see me, but I quickly grab the knife. I hear a squeal; I guess they forgot about the traps. I can hear a rush of feet which means all the game makers must be coming down now.

"Argh!" Another must have got caught in a trap. There's only one left. Sure enough a second later, there's another squeal.

"Very funny." Grayson says "Now come out." I can just about see the clock from my cramped position. I don't have to; there are still a couple of minutes left. I wonder what has happened to the clock though; all its glass is gone. Below there are smashed shards of glass. Grayson steps inside the fake tree circle. He does a double take. This is quite amusing really.

"Thank you, you may now leave." He says nervously. I guess he's just remembered that I took a knife with me. I may leave. I also may not. There are several of them in here now. One is inches away from my foot. I guess my camouflage is working. The game maker near me takes a step back, a step closer to me. I ready my knife, and grab his ankle.

"Arghh!" She screams. I shimmy out and hold the knife up to her throat while she shouts "Help! Help! They can't do this." I chuck the knife to the side and walked out whilst ripping the paint covered body suit as I go. The three game makers caught up in my traps, are still there. The one that is hanging upside down is starting to go purple in the face.

If this doesn't give me a high score, I don't know what will.


	15. Chapter 14

**This chapter is all the training scores and the tributes' reactions to them. I added the notes the game makers wrote on them so for people you didn't see in the training room you know what they did, and to recap for the people you did.**

 **Just wanted to add, at some point in the nearish future I'm planning on writing a hunger games fic on the 76** **th** **games if they had done it with the capitol's kids. If you want to submit a tribute for it, please leave a review saying so, and I will message you the form, I ask that you submit two tributes that will be in the same 'district' though so it makes my life easier.**

 **Next chapter will be the first half of the interviews (of the 6 I'm doing). Hope you enjoy and please give me feedback.**

 **Chapter 14**

 **Grayson's POV**

I've told the game makers not to get too hammered. They probably won't listen to me though. Once I've dismissed the first tribute I scribble down some notes.

 _D1M_

 _Demonstrated good techniques using a sword, beating his opponent. Completed the rope course while shooting dummies at certain places. Excellent strength and bow skills. Probably a 9._

 **Flynn's POV (D1M)**

I'm pretty lucky, my score is the first one to be read. Like the individual training, they go from the District 1 male tribute to the District 11 female tribute. They are just introducing the show at the moment. Before they announce the scores there's always about a minute of footage from training on day 1 and 2 of all of us. After what seems an eternity, Idola Kartis comes on screen.

"Well, I wish a good day to you all. So here's the moment we've all been waiting for the training scores. From District 1, Flynn, with a score of 9." She announces. Yes! I couldn't have hoped for better.

"Well done." My escort flings her arms around me. "That's amazing."

"Thanks." I say, struggling to get free from her tight grip without being scratched by her long fake nails. I'm so pleased with my score, I can't be angry with her.

 **Game maker's notes**

 _D1F_

 _Set herself a mini assault course up, included: rope course, climbing, hunting holo-animals and the gauntlet. At various points she showed good use of different weapons including: swords, throwing knives, spears, archery, maces and whips. Confident using all the weapons, didn't really excel at anything though. Probably a 9, maybe 10._

 **Aria's POV**

It's the waiting that's worse than anything. The wait between the end of my individual training and the show to start. I know I should have scored decently. I've been training for this for years, but I need to know for definite I have a high score, in these games I will have to depend on sponsors rather than allies. Flynn would never admit it, but I can tell he's a bit nervous too.

"Well, I wish a good day to you all. So here's the moment we've all been waiting for the training scores. From District 1, Flynn, with a score of 9." The presenter, Idola, says. I'm quite happy for Flynn. I'm not completely happy though, it means he'll be a tough competitor.

"Well done." Our escort, Nadine startles him by flinging her arms around him, he looks slightly startled, but then she quickly turns back to the TV for my score.

"And also from District 1, Aria, with a score of 10." My eardrums just about pop from the high pitched squeal Nadine gives out. I can hardly believe it. I beat Flynn too, which makes it even sweeter. This will have gained me at least a couple of sponsors.

 **Game maker's notes**

 _D2M_

 _Showed good use of a variety of weapons in the combat simulation room. Was incredibly close to being killed a few times. Compared to most careers, not amazing. Probably 7, 8 if he was pushing it._

 **Julius' POV**

I'm confident that I should get at least a 9. I did very well. I mean, I'm better than my District partner and she's trained been training for this for years, I've only had the three days everyone else has had. I know I can definitely do this. I wouldn't have volunteered otherwise. The two from 1 both have high scores, so I know I'll be likely to have one two.

"Next, from District 2, Julius, with a score of 7." Idola announces. I chuck the glass on the table in front of me at the TV. Both the screen and the glass shatter, and the TV turns black. I storm out. How? That's a terrible score for a career. I slam my bedroom door shut and start punching the wall. The plaster starts to crack and my knuckles bleed. I'll show them. I'll show them all. I deserved way better than a 7.

 **Game maker's notes**

 _D2F_

 _She demonstrated: throwing knives, whips and spear throwing. All of it very accurate. From watching her on day 1 and 2, she appears to be good with the other weapons as well, but she excels in these areas. A solid 10._

 **Elodie's POV**

I hate Julius so much. I have to wait an extra few minutes to find out my score. All because he can't admit he is terrible and should have never volunteered. As soon as his score was read out, he smashed the TV and stormed out. We can hear him punching the wall.

"I'll call someone quickly to find your score." My escort says, giving my hand a sympathetic squeeze. She taps her earpiece "I just want to be quick." She says immediately "No. No. Thank you. Can you just tell me Elodie's score quickly though. There was an incident. Okay, darling bye. Speak to you later." She turns to me with a big smile "10." She squeals, wrapping her arms around me. As my mentor congratulates me. At least I've proved once and for all I am better than Julius.

 **Game maker's notes**

 _D3M_

 _Demonstrated electrical skills. Made a taser thing on an arrow, and fired it. Made a control so he could choose when to it fired. Accurate archery skills to. 7 or maybe 8._

 **Hank's POV**

I think I should get an okay score. I think I definitely shocked them a bit. They certainly forgot I was related to Beete Latier. The first 2 careers have high scores. I'll have to watch out for them. Well, I won't be able to tell who's who, but I need to be careful. The boy from 2 only gets a 7, which is quite good, but terrible considering he's from a career district. The girl gets a ten.

"Onto District 3 now, Hank, with a score of…" She takes a breath. Hurry up. "Eight." My mouth drops in surprise. I didn't think it was that good. I mean it had tonnes of serious design flaws.

"Well done." Farah smiles.

"I'm sure you'll do well too." I reply, smiling. I will have a few sponsors now, I hope. I've got an even higher score than one of the careers too.

 **Game maker's notes**

 **D3F**

 _Sorted through the edible plants and insects. Only got 50% on it. Demonstrated throwing knives, but only a few hit the target. Probably a 3 or 4._

 **Farah's POV**

I'm going to look even worse now. The lowest anyone's got so far is 7. I'm happy for Hank, I really am. But, well, there's only one survivor, and I'm terrible at this stuff. I know I am. I've just got to hope though. Because without hope, what do I have? Without hope, why is life even worth living?

"And Farah, with a score of 3." Oh well. I was never going to get a 12.

"Maybe you were just hiding your true talents so nobody sees you as a threat." Hank smiles. He's trying to be nice. I can't help but be a little disappointed. I had hoped for a 4 or even a 5.

"Aw, shucks." I laugh "You figured me out."

"I won't tell anyone." He replies. At least he's not bragging.

 **Game maker's notes**

 _D4M_

 _Demonstrated good use of a sickle and throwing knives. Also showed fairly good skill on the climbing wall, though he didn't reach the top. High 9._

 **Phoenix's POV**

I'm really intrigued to know how the boy from 3 got an 8, especially as the boy from 2 got a 7. That's probably the lowest a careers ever got. I think I did pretty good though, I think I should get an 8 at the very least. The boy from 2 may have just lost some sponsors, so if I get a high score, they may choose me to sponsor instead.

"Now from District 4, Phoenix, with a score of 9." Idola, I think her name is, announces. I'm happy with that. It's about average for a career. I may not have got the highest score in the training room, but we all had weapons we're comfortable with in there, in the arena it'll be a different story. We probably won't have our weapons of choice, I'm pretty good with most weapons, there's just a couple I'm better with and would so prefer to use them.

 **Game maker's notes**

 _D4F_

 _Demonstrated great use of sword skill. Also completed the gauntlet in the fastest time this year. Good reflexes. 9 or 10._

 **Isla's POV**

So far all the scores have been pretty high, except the girl from 3. I wasn't expecting the boy to get such a high score. It's almost unheard of for a tribute from 3 to get an 8. I was also a little surprised about the boy from 2's score. Only a 7, though I did hear rumours that he wasn't supposed to volunteer, and he'd never actually done any training before. I don't know if it's true or not. I'm hoping for a 9, maybe 10. Anthony got an 11, but I don't think I will get that much. It rarely happens, maybe one person every 5 years, and this year almost all of us careers are about the same.

"Also from District 4, Isla, with a score of 10." I'm happy with that. I'm glad my parents aren't here though. They'd be saying that I should have done better. I should have got an 11 like Anthony. Well you know what mum and dad? I don't care. Ten is a great score, I'm happy with it, so just shove off.

 **Game maker's notes**

 _D5M_

 _Demonstrated basic use of spear throwing. Not particularly skilled, never missed the target, but he never got an amazing score. Probably a blood bath death. 5._

 **Callum's POV**

Now I've seen the first 8 scores, I know I'm pretty much dead. I can barely use a spear or a knife and I'm not particularly strong or fit. I think everyone is surprised by the boy from 3. Usually careers only do that well. I wonder what he did. I'm happy for him though. He doesn't really look like he's good at much, so I he's probably just managed to get everyone in the Capitol thinking about him. They'll probably either love him or hate him. Getting a high score when you're in a district like 3 usually has that effect.

"Next from District 5 we have Callum, with a score of 5." It's slightly better than I was expecting. Still not amazing but it's not terrible. It's not the lowest. It's a pretty average score. I wonder where Daria is though. I've not seen her since day 1 of training, my mentor said not to ask questions. I hope she's okay, I know only one person comes out, so I hope she dies quickly, but I still can't help wondering what she's done.

 **Grayson's POV**

When the girl we made an avox comes in, we stop taking notes. There's no point. President Trusta has ordered us to give her a 0 no matter what she does. She ends up doing nothing. It means we won't have to fake notes on how bad she is. I start writing slowly, I've got 15 minutes to write it. Then the girl will be taken to her new quarters. She's just got a basic room on her own. Now she's an avox; she has less rights.

 _D5F_

 _Sat on the floor looking at us. 0._

 **Daria's POV**

They've already told me what score I've got. 0. I had already pretty much guessed it, so I didn't do anything in the training room. I just sat down. I hope Hallie's not too disappointed. She was the only one that was ever nice to me. I wonder what Callum's got. They won't let me watch the TV so I don't know. I probably won't find out, if I do it won't be until the interview. I'm not sure what they will do at the interview, considering I can't exactly talk. I have no hope of winning, but I hope Callum wins, he deserves it and 5 hasn't had a winner in years.

 **Game maker's notes**

 _D6M_

 _Showed good knowledge of edible plants. Is okay using a mace too, but he made a few novice mistakes though. I'd say a 6 at most._

 **Vincent's POV**

I'm pretty nervous now I've seen the scores up to me. There's a couple of bad ones, one average one and the rest are all pretty good. Well depending on your definition of good. I'd say a 7 is good, but I doubt a career sees it that way. I really want to know what that girl from 5 did to get a 0 though. How do you even do that? I'm pretty nervous. The only weapon I was any good at was a mace so I used that a bit because weapons always get higher scores than survival skills. I showed my edible plants knowledge too.

"From 6, Vincent, with a score of 6." I'll take that. It's decent. It's not amazing, but sponsors certainly won't have ruled me out from it. I just hope I get lucky in the arena and don't have to go up against a career. I know I'm pretty much dead if that happens. I may, if I'm really lucky, be able to take down the boy from 2, but I doubt it.

 **Game maker's notes**

 _D6F_

 _Didn't show use of any weapons, only survival skills. Pretty good edible plants/insects knowledge. Quick at starting a fire. Good knot tying to hang a dummy. She didn't seem like she was natural at it though. Normally a 5, but she just seemed like she memorised it all. Like for an exam, I have a feeling she forgot everything the second she went out the room. 4._

 **Attaya's POV**

I'm not expecting a high score, I didn't use a weapon. I'm hoping for a 5 though. I did show that I probably wouldn't starve to death and I could hang someone. Actually, thinking about it, why did I show that? How will hanging someone work in the arena. Unless they're unconscious, but it would be a bit weird to randomly find someone unconscious in the arena. Why not just kill them? I certainly wouldn't be able to knock them out either.

"Attaya, with a score of 4." They read. Oh well. I guess they agreed that hanging wasn't a great skill to have. It's a better score than the girl from 5 at least. She got a 0. At least I tried.

 **Game maker's notes**

 _D7M_

 _Good use of an axe. Disarmed avox quite easily. Good aim when throwing too. Only showed use of one weapon, and he wasn't amazing with it, just better than average. Maybe 6 or 7._

 **Ciaran's POV**

I think this year is going to be quite interesting. I mean not for me. The odds are stacked against me. The boy from 2 surprised me. Careers never get that low. And then there's the boy from 3, people are certainly going to be watching him. The girl from 5 is another odd one. 0. Like, did she just do nothing? Either she is really terrible, or she's just pretending. At the moment, I just don't know which. I hope it's terrible, she's one less person to worry about.

"Moving onto District 7," The presenter smiles "Ciaran, with a score of 6." That's about average for 7. If we were nearer the start we'd probably get higher, but they don't pay as much attention closer to the end. It's totally unfair. But then I guess, as the Capitol would say 'May the odds be ever in your favour'. That's the thing I hate most about them. They say that. But the odds are never in favour. So long as we're from the districts anyway. In the Capitol, they're always in your favour.

 **Game maker's notes**

 _D7F_

 _Excellent climbing skills. She's not great with a knife. She is amazing at climbing though. Either she's got real talent or it's from years of experience. I think it's both. She showed us a few basic moves on a dummy with a knife. She could probably kill some of the weaker tributes. 7._

 **Bea's POV**

Ciaran seems quite happy with his score. I mainly climbed. I'm not sure many of them were paying attention though. I hope one or two were. I think I should get a 5. Maybe even a 6. I don't think they were paying attention enough for me to get any more than that. I hope I'll get a few sponsors though. I should be able to survive, I've managed it for enough years on my own in 7, but they would be helpful.

"And Bea, with a score of 7." I can't believe it. I didn't think they were paying that much attention. I got the same score as one of the careers. I think people will definitely have their eyes on me now. My chances of going home now just got higher.

 **Game maker's notes**

 _D8M_

 _Sparred with an avox using a spear. Not amazing, but not completely terrible. Also demonstrated use of a knife. Again, not amazing, not terrible. 5._

 **Hecate's POV**

Judging by the scores so far, it's going to be tough keeping Helena alive. There have only been a couple of really bad scores. One of them I doubt tried at all. I practised using a spear as much as possible this morning because that's my best weapon, and I think I did okay. I really need to get a half decent score so we get sponsors.

"District 8 now, Hecate with 5." It's not amazing.

"You tried your best." Helena smiles at me and gives me a small hug, before snuggling up on my lap for her score. I just hope she's done better than me.

 **Game maker's notes**

 _D8F_

 _Good archery skills. Pretty accurate, all of them hit at least the third ring from centre. Not much skills variety. 6._

 **Helena's POV**

I had hoped Hecate would get slightly higher, he was getting pretty good with the spear, I guess they weren't really paying much attention though. I probably won't get higher. We know we probably won't be able to count on sponsors from our training scores, but maybe people will sponsor us because we make a good love story.

"Helena, with a score of 6." Hecate smiles at me.

"Well done." I guess some were paying attention. 6 isn't amazing, but it's a lot better than some of the other tributes. Maybe it'll be enough to get a couple of sponsors.

 **Game makers notes**

 _D9M_

 _He just swam and dived for stuff. Probably the only thing he can do. 3._

 **Caleb's POV**

I'm not expecting a great score. I didn't really know what I was going to do when I went in. I'm not brilliant at anything. I've just accepted my fate. I was naïve to ever think I might have a chance. My fate was sealed the moment my name was picked out of the reaping.

"Onto District 9, Caleb, with a score of 3." Just as I'd expected. Oh well, no use crying over spilt milk. I might as well make the most of my last days.

 **Game maker's notes**

 _D9F_

 _Amazing use of knives in combat simulation room. Every throw was a direct kill hit. Was more skilled with them than a lot of the careers. 10._

 **Lily's POV**

I hope my little trick wasn't discovered. If it wasn't I think I should get a 7 maybe, that will help a little with sponsors. Maybe one or two will feel sorry for me. I don't think my district partner will get many he only got a three. I think he's accepted he's not going to win though.

"And Lily from District 9 with a 10." Oh. My. Gosh. I didn't think they were paying attention to get a score that high. I know I don't really deserve it; I cheated. But if it gets me sponsors, who cares? I'm drawing top with a couple of the careers. Everyone in the room looks stunned. As they should be. I probably should have got a 4 or 5.

 **Game maker's notes**

 _D10M_

 _Poor use of sword fighting. Didn't do much harm to the dummies. Good use of whip, though did have a rude attitude towards us because of cutting his back by a mere two minutes. 4._

 **Maximus' POV**

The standard's pretty high this year. Only four tributes have got really abysmal scores. I hope I'm not going to be added to that list though. They weren't really paying attention, but I think I got their attention with the clock. Who knows, maybe they'll react like they did when Katniss shot an arrow at them. Actually now they've learnt just to ignore stuff like that I'm probably going to get a low score.

"District 10 now, Maximus, with a score of 4." Yup. Just as I thought. I'd have got higher if I didn't smash the glass on the clock. They probably want me to die quickly, so I doubt there'll be whips at the cornucopia.

 **Game maker's POV**

 _D10F_

 _Showed use of spear throwing and knife throwing. Not very good at either. Most of the time they only hit the outside ring of the target. 3._

 **Ariana's POV**

I'm ready to kill President Trusta. Why did she pick me for the games? I'm sure they swapped the spears and knives for individual training too. They didn't feel right. I might get a 5, I didn't miss the target at all. That has to be worth something.

"And Ariana with a score of 3." Or not. I just hope I can survive and get sponsors so I can hide out until the end. That's my only option now. I don't think the odds will ever be in my favour. They used to be, but since the reaping, no? They've been stacked against me again and again. I'm just determined to beat them.

 **Game maker's notes**

 _D11M_

 _Throw a few spears about. Missed everything. Did some archery. Missed everything. Got overpowered by an avox when using a sword. Lit a fire with matches. He really doesn't have much hope. 1._

 **Tyla's POV**

They sure take things seriously in the Capitol. They actually make us do the days of training and the individual training. I didn't do very well in the individual training, it's not like it matters though. At most I'm going to live in luxury for the rest of my life and not see my family again.

"Finally, from District 11, Tyla, with a score of 1." I splutter. I didn't think I was that bad. Oh well. It doesn't really matter. It's not like the games are real.

 **Game maker's notes**

 _D11F_

 _Set up traps well. Excellent at camouflage. Good use of knife. She needs to be made a target for what she did though, someone like that easily has the brains and means to start a rebellion. 12._

 **Thalia's POV**

I definitely got them to pay attention all right. I hope it was enough to give me at least a 6. Tyla got a 1, but he didn't really care, he still thinks the hunger games is just a TV show. It'll be what kills him in the arena.

"And last but certainly not least, Thalia, with a score of 12." Did I hear that right?

"Oh my gosh, that's amazing." My escort pulls me in for a bone crushing hug. I didn't think I was that good. I guess they must have liked me. I just got the highest score this year. Only two people have ever got 12s before – Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark.

 **Quick training score recap**

 **D1M- 9**

 **D1F -10**

 **D2M-7**

 **D2F-10**

 **D3M-8**

 **D3F-3**

 **D4M-9**

 **D4F-8**

 **D5M-5**

 **D5F-0**

 **D6M-6**

 **D6F-4**

 **D7M-6**

 **D7F-7**

 **D8M-5**

 **D8F-6**

 **D9M-3**

 **D9F-10**

 **D10M-4**

 **D10F-3**

 **D11M-1**

 **D11F-12**


	16. Chapter 15

**It's been way too long, I know. I've had a busy week and I have to start a tonne more revision now because I've just had my report home and parents evening. I'm also writing a couple of other fics so I'm trying to balance out writing by rotating it between fics. I've only got one chapter left of one of them though so I can spend more time on this one. I'll try to get out a chapter a week, but I have my RE GCSE in 2 weeks and PPEs (mocks) in a month or 2 so no promises. Please let me know what you think and enjoy.**

 **Chapter 15**

 **Elodie's POV (D2F)**

Interview day, my last chance to wow sponsors before the games start.

In the morning Tobias, my escort, preps me on physical appearance. Stuff like my posture and walking in high heels. I was ready to kill him with my high heels by the end. He kept moaning at me for slouching and fiddling with my skirt. Then when he's finally happy that I'm not slouching, he puts a pile off books on my head and makes me sit like that for ages. When he's finally happy that the books aren't slipping off my head, he makes me practise standing up with them on my head. He seriously started to annoy me at that stage. I was just getting the hang of it, when I tripped over the long skirt I am being forced to wear to practise in, nearly twist my ankle on the high heels, I land on my face and the books fly into the air and land with a thunk on my back. And he stood their laughing.

The afternoon is spent with my mentor, Ursula. She preps me on what I'm actually going to be saying in the interview. I'm going for a fun approach, get the audience on my side, but I also need to make it clear that where I'm about, bloodshed will also be. By the time my stylist and prep team come, we've pretty much figured it out.

I don't really like my dress that much. It's pretty, I just don't like the style of it on me. It's long and a pale blue colour. From the waist upwards it's quite tight, but it flows outwards below my waist until my ankles. On my feet are white sandals with two small blue flowers on them.

"Now, please put your hands together, for Elodie Maya, from District 2. It's my time to shine. I stand up from the semi-circle all us tributes are sitting in on one side of the stage and walk to the centre where Idola Kartis, the interviewer, is standing. The lights are almost blinding, but I still smile and wave to the audience as I go. I may not be able to see them, but they can certainly see me.

"Hey Idola." I smile, as I reach her. I almost jump out my skin, my microphone attached to my dress is definitely working.

"Hello." She replies, "Before we get started, could you just give us a twirl." I'm really glad I'm not in heels for this, I'd probably trip and land flat on my face in front of all of Panem.

"Sure." I reply, and a bright spotlight starts shining on my from overhead. I twirl around slowly to give the audience a good look at my whole dress. I didn't realise that in different lights, the material changes shades, so it looks really cool in the spotlight now.

"That is stunning, don't you agree?" Idola says to the audience.

"Thank you, though it was all my stylist." I reply. Idola laughs.

"Well we'd hardly force you to design and make your own outfits now would we?" She laughs.

"I think I'd prefer to go into the games." I laugh.

"Well judging by your training score, I think I would have to agree."

"Thank you," I smile "I just did my best."

"Can you give us any hints on what you did?" She winks at the audience, as if she's about to get some juicy gossip. We're not allowed to say what we do in the individual training, but we are allowed to give hints.

"I will only say one thing: I did manage to beat the highest score on something." I say "I'm afraid I can't say what though." The audience groan "But, after the games I am allowed to say, so you'll only have to wait until I'm sitting on the stage in a few weeks." The audience start to cheer again. I'm pretty sure I've got them on my side.

"I love your confidence." Idola replies.

"Well, if you don't believe you're going to do something, who will?" I ask.

"I see your point. Moving on though because there's not much time." I look at the timer. Half the time's gone already. "How are stuff at home, did your friends and family react to you volunteering?"

"Well, my mum was really concerned because her brother volunteered and didn't win, but I think that was just nerves. I've trained and I know I can win this. For her brother, my uncle." I say. Let's make the audience think that I'm a lovely person and I'm doing this for someone else "And all my friends were really supportive and I can't wait to see them when I go back home."

"What about your dad?" She asks.

"I never knew him." I answer honestly "He left my mum before I was born."

"Oh, I'm so sorry." Idola sympathises, and the audience agrees. "What would you say to him, if he's watching now?"

"You could have at least contacted me, let me know you were alive. I grew up without a father, and when I get back home, if you try to contact me now, I will not talk to you. You had your chance, and I'll know you just want part of the money and the fame. You left my mum pregnant, and you never bothered to check on her or me once, and for that, I can never forgive you." The audience claps.

"Powerful words." Idola says "I bet he sure is wishing he tried to start a relationship with you now." I nod. I look at the timer. I only have 30 seconds left. Now we're on the topic of family, I may as well get the Capitol to love me even more.

"I just want to say though, I've only been in the Capitol for a few days, and in that time you guys have made me feel so welcome." The audience cheer, but I carry on, this should get them on my side. "And I want to thank you, all of you, you've been more of a family to me in those few days than my dad in the rest of my life. When I get out of the arena though, maybe we can be a proper family."

"Awww." The whole audience went as the buzzer went.

"Well I'm afraid that's all we've got time for from Elodie Maya, but all the best of luck." She smiles and the audience goes wild. I think I've must have done enough to get a few more sponsors.

 **Ursula's POV**

 **(Elodie's Mentor)**

Elodie's doing fantastic. The audience are drinking up every word of it, they really believe what she's saying. I hope she can keep it up for the whole interview. Someone taps my shoulder, I was concentrating so much on the interview, I didn't notice them. I spin around. There's a short man with devil ear alterations coming out of his head.

"Hello, you're Elodie's mentor?" He checks.

"Yeah." I reply, wondering what he could want.

"I'm Lucius." He smiles, holding his hand out for me to shake. I reach my hand out, but before they touch I notice a tattoo on his wrist. It's of a knife. It has blood dripping off it onto a small rose.

"That's a nice tattoo." I comment.

"Thank you." He says. I can hear the audience clapping again, Elodie's interview won't be much longer. "I'm a sponsor and I think my bets this year will be on your tribute. I want to meet her first though, do you think we could arrange a meeting over lunch tomorrow or something?" He asks. I immediately nod. This is brilliant news.

"Of course, we usually get served lunch at 1oclock so if you could be here for then, that would be great." He nods. I look at the stage. Elodie's district partner is walking up.

"Okay, we can discuss how involved I'll be in it and stuff then, I'm one of the big sponsors. That year the District 1 boy got sponsored full body armour, a tonne of food and a double bladed sword, that was me." I'm speechless. This guy could definitely help swing the games in Elodie's favour.

 **Farah Shortis (D3F)**

This interview may save my life if it goes well enough. My individual training really didn't go well. I was so nervous I just forgot everything. I forgot a tonne of edible plants when I was doing that and then I was so nervous when I was throwing knives that my hands kept shaking so I couldn't aim well. At least I didn't get a 0 like the girl from 5.

My interview dress is beautiful. It's made out of deep green satin. It feels like I'm just going to slip out of it at any second. I would have never thought I'd wear something like this. I'm just not confidant enough, but I have to be now. I'm about to go in front of all of Panem wearing it. It's strapless and tight. It flows down to just above my ankles where my shoes start. The shoes themselves are golden and quite plain, but holding them onto my feet are bronzy-gold sort of snakes. They're not real obviously; they're made of metal. But they snake (no pun intended) up to my ankles and entwine around each other. The back of it is pretty cool too. The top part doesn't have any material, there's just a strap made intertwined around the material, keeping it up because my breasts certainly won't. They've already padded them up quite a bit. The strap is also a snake that curls around and connects up to a clasp at each end. The Capitol will love it.

"Next up, from District 3, Farah Shortis." Idola calls me up. Butterflies swamp my stomach. For a moment I forget everything I've learnt today.

"Get a grip." I say silently to myself as the District 2 boy comes and sits back down. I get up carefully so I don't trip on my heels and walk to Idola. The audience goes wild when I step into the bright lights. My mentor has discussed it with me. We want to make me look mysterious. I don't wave like some people, I don't ignore them like others. I give them a small smile and then turn my attention to Idola.

"Hello Farah." She smiles, looking at me with a look of sort of pity.

"Hello." I say, I don't want people to feel sorry for me, I already know I'm going to die.

"Now Farah, there has been a lot of speculation about you," She looks at the audience "Concerning your training score. Don't you agree." The audience roars their approval. We all know it's a lie though, I'm physically weak so there's no chance of it being a bluff.

"What about it?" I say, already knowing the answer.

"Was it just pretence? Lots of people think that it is, that you're just pretending to be weak so in the arena people will forget about you. I raise my eyebrow. It's obvious I'm just faking it. There's no way I'd get a good score.

"I'm afraid you'll have to wait until I get into the arena." I say. The audience groans.

"Just a tiny hint." Idola pressed.

"I'm not allowed to say what I did in my individual training." I say.

"It's not really saying though." Idola is determined.

"Wow, you guys at the Capitol really are persistent." I laugh.

"I'm not sure if that's a compliment." The crowd bursts out laughing at this last comment from Idola.

"Of course it is, but I'm still not telling you about my training score." I say.

"Speaking about the Capitol, what would you say is the weirdest thing about being here?" Idola asks. I know what my true answer would be, but I can't say that. I want to be mysterious so I'm not about to spill my whole life story.

"Everything," I say vaguely. "But at the same time nothing at all. If that makes sense."

"How do you mean?" She asks. I shrug.

"You know when you have a dream and at the time it seems like the most normal dream in the world, but then you wake up and you're just like what the heck was that all about?" I say, specifically trying to stay quite vague.

"Yes, do you guys know what we're talking about?" She says to the audience.

"Yeah." They murmur, nodding their heads.

"It's like that, sort of." I say.

"How only sort of?" Idola says. Why does she keep being so persistent? I'm sure she hasn't been so bad with any of the other tributes.

"It's not a dream." I say. The audience laugh and to my relief the buzzer goes. I just hope I didn't muck it up too badly.

 **Yamasee's POV**

 **(Farah's Mentor)**

She's trying, I'll give her that. It's not really working though, I'm standing here cringing. I can see the audience are only clapping and cheering because they feel sorry for her. I really don't think she's going to survive the bloodbath. Most of them from 3 don't. The boy has a chance of winning this year. Or at least he would, if he wasn't Beetee's son. I'm pretty sure they must have set that up. They wouldn't want any chance of another rebellion starting. He'd have a pretty good chance if it wasn't for that. He got one of the highest scores from District 3 ever.

The only thing that is going well for Farah is her outfit. Her stylist is really good. The green compliments her skin tone well. I doubt that will get her sponsors though. She's a nice kid though. When the end comes, I hope it's quick. She deserves that at least.

 **Daria's POV (D5F)**

They're letting me to go off to show off my dress, but no interview. Basically, they're giving me as big a chance as possible of dying, without making it suspicious. It doesn't really matter anyway, I'm not coming out of the arena alive.

"Due to a complication, we won't be able to hold an interview with Daria Laly," Idola began. Complication? If cutting my tongue out counts as a complication then sure it is? I don't though. I count it as the game makers hating me. The audience groan in disappointment. At least there's a couple who'll remember me. Or not. I'm going to die before the bloodbath even starts, of course nobody is going to remember me. Only Hallie, maybe. "However, we can get her up to show off her dress to us." The audience start to cheer again. It's my cue to go up.

My dress is a silky yellow and goes down to just above my knees. It's not really tight, but it's not a really flowy one. I don't really like it. It's too slippery. I feel like it's going to slip right off. I walk over to Idola.

"Isn't it wonderful?" She smiles. The audience whoops. I really don't agree with them, but then they're dumb. "Can you give us a twirl please?" I spin around and then head back to my seat.


	17. Chapter 16

**Next chapter will probably be the start of the games. It'll probably only be the bloodbath though because it'll get crazily long otherwise. Sorry the interviews have got gradually smaller, there's only so many questions you can ask until you're repeating yourself over and over again. Who do you guys think is going to win at this point? Cos I have no idea. I have a couple of ideas for who won't, but that's for me to know and you to find out. Please lemme know what you think and enjoy.**

 **Chapter 16**

 **Vincent's POV (D6M)**

I'm fed up of all this lark, I mean just chuck us into the arena already. I can tell a lot of the other tributes are feeling like that too. I wonder what the District 5 female tribute has done. She's not been given an interview. I watch her closely as she sits back down after showing off her dress. She looks exactly like everyone else, just her dress is different. It's pretty weird, but I've got used to it over the last few days. She's swallowing weirdly. I have the strangest feeling she's been turned into an avox. But why? At least it will mean Trusta will want her dead. One less competitor in the arena.

"And onto Vincent Poyola from District 6." Idola says as Attaya, my district partner sits back down. I'm not really nervous as the spotlight falls on me. If I make a complete prat of myself, well I could be dead in a few days, and if by some miracle I survive the games, well everyone will have forgotten about it by then.

I stride over to her, giving small waves to the audience as I go. My charcoal grey suit looks dull next to her bright sea green dress. "Hey." I say.

"Hello. Now, I'm sure we all just want to get straight into the interview." Idola begins.

"Well I certainly want to get on with it." I say, I want the audience to be on my side "I forgot to go to the toilet before the interviews started." A rumble of laughter comes up from the audience.

"Just don't have an accident on us." Idola laughs.

"I'll try not to." I grin and the audience laughs again.

"Now, how do you think the quell will effect this year's games?" She asks.

"I think that tributes with lower training scores will have a better chance." I start "I think it will mean there are more deaths in the bloodbath, but after that I think they'll slow down a bit because there'll be no career pack hunting tributes down."

"Interesting perspective." She says "And what about the arena changing?"

"I think it will mean that there will be a higher chance for smarter tributes to win. I mean if you're smart you'll figure things out about the arena, things that will mean when the arena changes, they won't die. I think less smart people won't work it out and get killed like that. I also think it will mean there are less kills and more deaths caused by the actual environment in the arena." I say.

"Do you think it will mean that tributes from more outlying districts will have a better chance?"

"Absolutely. I'm not ruling out the other tributes though, I'm just saying these games are going to be harder to win than usual." I reply. I'm trying to go for the smart analytical approach. If sponsors think I am smart and analytical, they will realise I might have a higher chance than some tributes at escaping situations.

"So say you win the games," Idola begins, changing the subject. "What would you do back home at 6, I mean you'd never have to work."

"I dunno." I answer truthfully "Relax probably." The audience laugh.

"Well you'd certainly have deserved it." Idola replies "But is there not a girl in 6 you like?" Of course. They always try to get a love story out of everything. I'm surprised they're asking me though, why not just make a huge thing out of the lovebirds from 8?

"No," I reply "Not really. No one special. I mean all my friends are girls, but that's mainly because I get on with them a lot better. I could never see myself marrying, or even dating, any of them." The audience groan.

"I'm sure one of them must like you." Idola presses.

"Maybe one does," I say "But at the moment I just want to focus on the games. If I get through them, well I may change my mind, but I don't want any distractions in the arena." Oops. That was probably a mistake saying no. Everyone in the Capitol adores a love story. Oh well, I've done it now. Maybe they'll just see it as me being smart and not wanting a distraction. I doubt they'll see it like that though. Oh well. I never really had much hope anyway.

 **Quinn's POV**

 **(Vincent's Mentor)**

I can see a few people are liking him, he's going for an unusual approach. Most people in the Capitol like the killers though, not the strategists. I agree with Vincent though: these games probably will be easier for the smarter tributes. He's doing pretty good at the moment. I cringe when he says no to having a girlfriend back home though. I mean, at least say you have a crush on someone just to get sympathy sponsors. He's probably blown the chance of at least one sponsor now.

"Was I okay?" Vincent asks me when the interviews are all over. I shrug. It's easier just to be honest with the tributes. I don't lie and tell them they were amazing if they weren't. I believe false hope is worse than no hope.

"Meh, should've played the romance card." I reply.

"I know," He replied "I panicked and just answered no and then immediately realised my mistake."

"You might have gained a couple of sponsors." I say "Just try to show hunting skills and stuff early on in the games, that will get you some more sponsors." Vincent nods at me and heads off to his room to get some sleep.

 **Helena's POV (D8F)**

I've been preparing for this interview all day. Hecate and I started the day learning how to walk and sit down properly. Apparently both of us slouch way too much. It's uncomfortable sitting up straight so we frustrate our escort so much. The afternoon we spend doing practise questions with our mentors. We both agreed straight away to go down the star crossed lovers route. I mean it worked for Katniss and Peeta. Well. I mean they did end up being tortured almost to the point of death before being executed, but that's not the point. The point is the Capitol drink up love stories.

"Next up, the first half of this year's star crossed lovers, Helena Kils." Idola announces. Hecate gives me a small smile. I stagger up to Idola in my huge heels.

"Hello." I smile at the audience, I need them to like me. If they like me then I can get sponsors. Sponsors that will keep Hecate alive in the arena. I'm determined that it's going to be him that's going to come out of the arena.

"Now Helena, I'm think I'm echoing everyone at the Capitol's thoughts when I say I'm sorry for you and Hecate." Idola begins. Of course they're going down the star crossed lovers route.

"Thank you," I say, I'm going to play this up as much as possible. "I just wish Hecate hadn't volunteered."

"It was an act of love though." Idola says.

"If he hadn't volunteered, we still had a chance of being together. It was a small one, but nothing would have stopped me from getting back to Hecate, not even if I had to kill everyone in the arena to get to him."

"Aww." The Capitol really do adore love stories.

"And now Hecate's volunteered?" Idola prompts.

"Now Hecate's volunteered, we have no hope. All I'm going to do is make sure he gets out of the arena alive."

"And I presume he's going to try to do the same for you?" Idola asks.

"I guess so, he always listens to me though. On the rare occasions we have argued, I have always won."

"That's how you see it then, who's coming out of the arena alive between you and Hecate, an argument?"

"No. Argument implies that we both have an equal chance of winning it. Hecate doesn't, he's going out of the arena alive." I say.

"He is just a guy though." Idola says "I mean there are plenty more fish in the sea so to speak."

"Maybe." I say "But I love Hecate, and if I won, I'd spend the rest of my life drowning in guilt. If I won, I wouldn't have a life to go back to. Hecate is my life."

"Aww." The audience are just getting annoying now.

"That's so sad." Idola says, patting my knee sympathetically. I shrug. "What would you give for Hecate to win?" She asks.

"Everything." And it's true. The audience start to cheer at this.

"I'm not surprised Hecate loves you so much though." Idola tries to steer the conversation on "You look amazing, especially with that dress." It's red and strapless. From my left shoulder three golden, glittering feathers are sewn into it and goes right across to my right hip. I'm wearing red lipstick to match the dress and golden eyeshadow to go with the feathers.

"Thank you, your outfit looks great too." Compliments get you everywhere in the Capitol, I've learnt that in my time here. Her dress is a deep midnight blue and looks like it's made out of feathers. Her short hair is sleek and shiny, and she's highlighted her usually black hair with blue streaks specially for the interview.

"Thank you, that's so nice." She smiles as the audience cheers. "You're dress is way nicer though."

"I don't think so." I say.

"What do you guys think?" She asks the audience. There are mixed voices of Idola and Helena. "I guess you win." She says after a particularly loud Helena.

"Let's call it a draw." I laugh. I think the audience definitely like me now.

 **Ursula's POV**

 **(Helena's Mentor)**

All Helena's practise this afternoon has really paid off. She's acing it and the audience are loving her. She's got them upset about her and Hecate's relationship and she's got them discussing her and Idola's dresses. She's definitely got a likeable approach. If Hecate's interview goes this well, the sponsors will be streaming in.

I do feel sorry for them, but it was dumb of Hecate to volunteer. They may have had a hope; now they have none. He says he wants to protect her, but now if she does survive she'll be living on her own. Trapped in the horrors of her past, with no one to confide in. Like so many others.

I don't think either of them will win though, if I'm being honest. Neither of them are amazing at any weapon and while they aren't stupid, they aren't the brightest peas in the pod.

There was a bit of good news just before the interview though. We received the list for stuff that could be sponsored and the rough estimated prices for them as they go through the games. There will be some slight changes on the prices, depending on how quickly tributes are dying and stuff. One item has been added since last year, it'll be off again next year. It won't be necessary. It's the anti-serum to the serum they were given to think everyone looked the same. It's pretty expensive for even the first day, but if we use the sponsor money they've been given at the start this year, then we should manage it. I've checked the sponsor rules and there isn't a rule against sponsoring something in the first 60 seconds before they can move, but you aren't allowed to sponsor weapons or anything that can be used to harm somebody.

It means we can send it straight away and they can find each other easily and know for definite that they are with each other. They're both thrilled about it obviously. It will mean they won't have any sponsor money left for an emergency unless we get some tonight though. They're willing to take the risk.

 **Caleb's POV (D9M)**

Today has been torturous. I was supposed to spend the morning working on how to walk and sit down properly, but it dragged into half of the afternoon because of my limp. It meant I kept walking lopsided and it was difficult to sit up straight. My escort, Akoni, was lethal, making me do it over and over again until it was perfect. I was ready to strangle him. He was so annoying, especially the way he kept going:

"No, no, Caleb, lift the leg up properly, really no one's going to sponsor you if you do that." In his squeaky Capitol voice. Apparently I have to wait until I'm in the arena until I can kill. Shame. I mean Akoni won't be in there. Urgh. I just got a horrible image in my head of a mutt made to look exactly like Akoni. That would be evil. Pure evil. But then that's what the Capitol is. Evil. Throwing kids into an arena, forcing them to fight to the death. Making it into a TV show so they can make entertainment out of it. Killing 23 innocent children to stop people rebelling. I think it just gives us a reason to rebel.

"Onto Caleb Stone, also from District 9." Idola says. I walk over to her. I've decided to go for the silent and brooding look. I sit down and just glare at the audience. I know I need sponsors, but I'm not going to grovel for them like the others are. "Hey." Idola greets me.

"Hello." I grunt back, not even looking at her.

"We'll just get straight into it then shall we." I shrug. "What do you think the best thing about coming to the Capitol is." I'm struggling not to punch her for this. I know I have no hope in the games, especially with my limp. I might just say what I actually think.

"Hmm." I say sarcastically. "Let me think." Then I shout "Training to go into an arena where I'll have to fight a bunch of other innocent kids to the death." Everyone goes silent. You could hear a pin drop. "No, no wait. That's not it. It's watching everyone at the Capitol make it into a TV show. You root for your favourites, cry when they die. It's sick. What if we put you in an arena, what would you do then?" I yell, before standing up and going off stage. I still have a lot of my time left, but I've said all that needs to be said.

 **Daren's POV**

 **(Caleb's Mentor)**

What is Caleb doing? He might as well have committed suicide on stage. He's just signed his death warrant. There's no way they're going to let him win now. They won't kill him now, there's no point. It'd be too much effort anyway. They'd have to get a replacement. They'll just kill him off in the arena, slowly and painfully probably. They'll send a mutt after him.

There's a delay on it so they'll have bleeped it out before it reaches the districts.

"What was that?" I yell as he limps up to me.

"I was going to die anyway." He shrugged.

"You had a chance." I hiss, people are giving us weird looks.

"Only a tiny one."

"I only had a tiny chance. That didn't stop me." I say "You could have one. If you had got people to like you."

"Well I didn't." I'm sick of the tributes I mentor, they always muck up, sealing their fate. I just hope the girl from 9 can win now. She's the only chance 9 has of winning. I don't think she will though. Neither of them had much chance.

 **Thalia's POV (D11F)**

I'm hoping I'll be able to seal myself a few more sponsors tonight. I got quite a few from my training score. I don't know why the game makers rated me so high, I wasn't even that good. My mentor decided that for my interview I just need to gush. Talk about how I never expected to get this far. How it's given me hope for the games, that sort of stuff. They drink it up in the Capitol.

There have been several interesting interviews so far. The girl from 5 didn't even get an interview. The boy from 9 has a death wish. He just started screaming stuff against the Capitol. I'm pretty sure all of us tributes, and the districts agree with him, but if we outright say we will, we won't survive the arena.

My dress is an orangey pinkie colour. Like a sunset. It's is long and simple. I don't like the colours, but the style of it really suits me. Apparently this colour is all the range in the Capitol, it'll get me some more sponsors. I'm not really sure people will bet on me based on my dress colour though.

"And now onto District 11, Thalia Kason." I'm up. I walk up to Idola, smiling and waving to the audience as I go.

"Hi Idola." I smile.

"Hello Thalia." She replies "We'll just dive straight in, I'm sure the audience can't wait to meet you."

"Dive?" I decide to start off with a joke. Get the audience to like me a bit. "But there's no swimming pool." The audience and Idola burst out laughing.

"Ha ha." She smiles. "Seriously though, the highest training score." I shrug.

"I just tried my best. I can't believe I did so well. Especially coming from a district that hardly ever wins." I gush.

"Well congratulations." Idola smiles "You're a hot favourite to win."

"I-I." I pretend to be lost for words "I didn't realise."

"You're so modest." Idola replies "You've got the joint highest score in all the history. The last time anyone scored a 12 was at the-" She breaks off. She'll probably have an 'accident' if she mentions Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark live onstage. Especially with the trick the boy from 9 pulled.

"The last quell." I finish for her. I don't know why I'm covering for her. "I just never thought I'd be put on a higher level than some of the previous victors from then." Idola flashes me a grateful smile. "I mean my score is higher than some of the most popular victors were. Enobaria, Gloss, Cashmere." I am careful. I don't mention any names of rebels. I almost accidently slip Finnick Odair's name in with them, but stop myself in time.

"Clearly, you will be a tribute to watch out for in the arena then." She steers the conversation away from the last quell. People at the Capitol avoid talking about the quell, mainly because it was the start of the rebellion. The rebellion that was very close to overthrowing the Capitol.

"I never thought I'd be one of the top tributes." I say. "In fact, I thought I'd be the opposite. I thought I'd be the worse." Now it's time to get them to love me. "I think I'd go far as to say, it was because of all the lovely people at the tribute parade that made me realise, I can survive." I smile "When my name was reaped, I thought my life was over. You guys have helped me come so far. Now look at me, I have the highest score in the games."

 **Carla's POV**

 **(Thalia's Mentor)**

Thalia looks like she's been doing this her whole life. She's a natural. She's captured the gushing I-can't-believe-I've-made-it-this-far angle perfectly. She's smart, as soon as the conversation grew nearer to the last quell and the rebellion, she started talking about the non-rebel tributes until Idola changed the topic completely.

I think 11 might have a winner this year. She's the best we've had in years. She's got an amazing training score and the Capitol absolutely adore her. That can't be said for her district partner though. He's still convinced that the games aren't real. I've been so close to murdering him over some of the things he's said. Stuff about the games just being a dumb TV show. He really thinks it is. I don't know why he doesn't just accept his fate. He could have lived in 11 and never been reaped. Married, had kids, had a happy life. Parents like his make me sick, yes the hunger games is scary, but your kids still need to be aware that it's actually a thing. It's not just a TV show. It's peoples' lives. It messes with them, so if you do come out of the arena, you're never the same again.


	18. Chapter 17

**Chapter 17**

 **Daria's POV (D5M)**

A shoot of pain runs up my arm. A small light follows it and then it vanishes. They've just put my tracker in. So they can log where in the arena I am to send a mutt to kill me. That's not going to happen though. I'm going to die my own way. On my terms. I just wish I could apologise to Hallie. Make her understand. I think she'll always blame herself now. That's one burden I'll carry with me to the grave.

"Here's your clothes. Make sure they fit properly." My stylist says once we've been taken through to our launch rooms. I quickly change. "The jacket is a two way thing." He explains "Put it on one way it'll keep you warm, the other will keep you cool. It'll be useful in almost every landscape they throw you in." I nod.

"60 seconds until launch." I grab a cookie from the food machine. Might as well have a delicious taste in my mouth when I die.

"I'm sorry." He looks at me. Don't be. I want to say. I can't though. They've taken my words. I shake my head and go into the tube, that will soon seal itself and take me up to the arena where I will die.

The sun beats down heavily on me. I look all around me and the other tributes are all squinting in the sunlight too. All the pedestals are in a huge circle, with the cornucopia in the middle. The floor is just sand. In the distance I can see cacti growing. Looks like they've gone for an arena that could cause lots of boring deaths first, so it'll change before it gets mega dull .

I'm about to step off when there's a small tinkling sound. Everyone stares at the two parachutes coming down from the sky into the hands of two tributes, they open the containers and take out a syringe full with a blue liquid. Almost simultaneously, they roll up their sleeves and jab themselves in the arm. I don't really know what they're doing, but I've wasted half my time to step off. There's only 30 seconds until the games start. I jump. I feel my feet touch the soft sandy ground. I'm sorry Hallie. Then the ground around my feet explodes. At least I'm going to die on my terms.

 **Bea's POV (D7F)**

"You're smart, just grab essentials and run before the fighting really begins." I nod at my stylists last minute advice. My chances of actually winning are very slim, but who knows, stranger things have been known to happen. I grab a bottle of cool water and start to drink it. Who knows when I'll next drink, or if I even will drink again? I also grab a couple of high energy nutrient bars and gulp them down in a couple of bites.

"60 seconds until launch."

"See you then." I say, grabbing my district token. It's a wooden puzzle thing. It's a box, but to get in you have to work out which two strips of wood to pull apart to split it into two.

"Good luck." I step into the glass cylinder that will take me up to the arena. I wonder what it will be like. I'm really nervous, but I know exactly what I'm going to do. I've rehearsed it in my head so many times. I can't possibly get it wrong. The glass door seals me in.

It takes a few seconds for the lift to take me up, but soon I am standing in the dazzling sun on my pedestal. I quickly pull the two strips of wood necessary to break the box in two and hold half in each hand. Then I look up to take in my surroundings.

The sun is beating down heavily on my back, and I am suddenly glad for the cool water I just drank. It won't stay like this for long though, as soon as there's a death it'll change. Behind me all I can see is miles and miles of sand dunes the occasional cactus standing there in the barren landscape. At least this one's first, I won't be trying to find water in a desert halfway through the games now.

Beep! Beep! Beep! It can't be. Already? A parachute, wait, two are falling from the sky. They are caught by two tributes 3 pedestals away from each other. They both take a syringe out of the container. Oh. I get it. I checked the sponsor gifts last night. The lovers from 8 must have spent the sponsor money that we're provided with at the start on the anti-serum for the serum we were given so we look like each other. They'll want to ally with each other so it makes sense. The anti-serum only works with district partners though. So if I were to take it, I'd only recognise Ciaran, no one else.

Bang! One of the landmines have gone off. I think this is the most eventful start to the games there has ever been. From the flesh scattered everywhere, I'd guess they jumped rather than fell or dropped their district token. Almost everyone is staring in disgust at the lumps of flesh now littered over the sandy ground.

Ten seconds left. 9. 8. 7. 6. I launch one half of the box at the person on my left, and one to the one on my right. 4. 3. Bang! Bang! 2. 1. I run straight towards a pack laying near to me and swing it on my back. Not far off I can see a sharp knife that will definitely help me. Is it worth the risk though? I decide it is and sprint to it. I grab it, and then turn around and run across the desert to escape the bloodbath.

Lumps of flesh are scattered across my path from the two tributes I killed just before the games began. I had to wait until right at the end of the countdown to distract people while I got some gear and ran. It seems to have worked. Then the whole world goes black and the floor starts to shift. I guess there's been a death. The sand starts to disappear. I wonder what the next biome will be like.

 **Tyla's POV (D11M)**

I've made a huge mistake. The games, they aren't just a TV show. They're real. It's sick. Why didn't I listen to them?

"Does your clothes fit you?" My stylist checks. I nod. I'm so scared. I'm practically shaking with fright. I don't know when I'll next have a meal, after the bloodbath probably. I want to make sure I'm not hungry in the arena so I go to the food machine and start eating as many peri peri chicken drummers as I can. Once I've stripped the bone of the meat I start piling them up in a small pile. I realise I should probably have something to drink, who knows what the arena will be like? I get a cooled bottle of water, but my hands are shaking so much I can't unscrew it.

"Could you?" I ask to my stylist, holding the bottle out. He sighs a little but unscrews it for me and I down it in three gulps.

"60 seconds until launch."

My head is pounding in the hot sun. I can't think straight. There's a weird beeping noise. Why are people getting sponsors already? I can't remember this ever happening in the games. A loud bang makes me almost jump off my pedestal. Now I'm standing on my pedestal with a small lump of flesh on my arm. Someone jumped before the time was up. I think it was deliberate, judging by their expression when they jumped. At least my chances of winning just went up. Not by much though.

I need to stop panicking. I can't though. I need to run to the cornucopia, I'll die without the resources there. I can fight. I practised. I'll just grab a pack and some weapons and get out of there. I could probably kill most people here. I was just nervous at my individual training, that's why I was bad. Now, now I'm prepared. I have to be prepared, if I'm not, then I'm dead.

I ready myself to start running towards the open entrance of the cornucopia is, that's where all the good weapons will be, so that's where I have to head. Bang! Bang! I look over to see what's happened. I think someone's chucked something at the two people either side of them and they've ran for gear. Gear! I jump down and head straight for the cornucopia. I can hear someone behind me, but I carry on. I run past something on the floor, I don't have time to pick them up. They're only a couple of throwing knives. I've reached the main weapons. I grab a sword and a dagger when something hits my back. I cough, blood spurts onto the sandy ground that I'm rapidly approaching. I can hardly see, when I fell to the floor face first, sand must have got into my eyes. I think someone's thrown a knife into my back. I lift my head. They're now running straight towards me. They laugh at me withering on the floor in agony and snatch the sword and dagger.

I can feel my strength leaving me. No! I can't die here. The hunger games weren't even supposed to be real.

 **Hecate's POV**

I'm rapidly approaching the sunlight. I start taking my surroundings immediately. We're in a boiling hot desert. Beep! Beep! A parachute is falling from the sky towards me. That didn't take long. I stretch my arms out to grab it. It falls into my hands, and I quickly unscrew the container attached to it. Inside is a syringe filled with a clear liquid and a note.

 _Straight into your arm. Good luck_

 _~U and T_

I pull the syringe out and unroll my sleeve. I ready it to where I have been told to inject it and jab it down. I sharp sting goes through my arm, but I ignore it and look around for Helena. She's two pedestals down from me. Bang! Someone's either fallen off for their pedestal or jumped off. I'm not sure which. It's more likely to be a suicide. I think the only time anyone's accidently been blown up was way before I was even born. Someone dropped their district token on the floor and it blew them up.

Ten..5.4.3. Bang! Bang! I look over to where the noises came from. There is an empty pedestal and the pedestals on either side of it have clumps of flesh. Someone must have chucked their district token. I wonder how they got 2 of them at once.

"Hecate." Helena is here. I was so busy I forgot to run. I jump down and we run to collect some gear. I pick up a bow and quiver near to me and chuck them to Helena who now has two packs slung on her back. I run and grab a pack of energy bars. That's when it happens. The arena goes dark. The sand disappears. When I can see again, we're no longer standing in a desert. Instead of sand dunes there as snow dunes. We're in a tundra. "Hecate." I hear Helena scream nearby I turn. She has an arrow notched and ready to aim. "Duck!" I don't hesitate, I jump for the ground and roll away from where Helena is now shooting. I shake the snow off me and stand back up. There is now someone laying on the floor, an arrow coming out of their chest. A spear is in their hand. Helena just saved my life. I grab the spear and roll them over just as darkness falls once again, telling me they're now dead.

When it is light again I see huge buildings have appeared out of nowhere. I can see Helena around the corner of the one closest to me.

"Helena." I shout. She turns and runs to me.

"I think it's the Capitol." I rip the arrow off the dead body and hand it to Helena who cleans it and then notches it back in the bow while a take the pack off the corpse.

"It doesn't matter, we just have to get out of here." I say, putting the pack on and holding the spear out in front of me. We navigate our way through the jumble of buildings and squares that are usually found in the Capitol until the arena once again changes.

 **Phoenix's POV (D4M)**

I've been training for this my whole life. I'm ready. I have to be. I know exactly what I'm going to do. Run straight to the best weapons and gear right at the centre, and fight it out until everyone's gone. That way I'll get all the best stuff. Everyone else will have just got what they could grab, I'll have more than them.

There's already been 2 sponsors, the lovebirds from 8 I'd imagine. Then there was a suicide. I think it's probably the girl from 5. She only showed up for the individual training and half of day 1. She didn't even do an interview. I look at the countdown, and ready myself to sprint.

5.4. Bang! Bang! 3. I ignore the bangs and concentrate on running. 2. 1. I'm off like a cannon. Heading straight for the pile of lethal looking spears I can spot around the corner of the cornucopia. I'm one of the first to reach it. Most will have got the supplies scattered around the outside. It's less dangerous, but the stuff there isn't as good.

The ground begins to shake and darkness falls. There must have been a death. They're probably only changing the ones after the games have started. I don't bother wasting time looking around at the new landscape like most people are. I grab a couple of barbed spears and a large pack just in case and start to chase someone down. I don't need to look around to see what it's like. I can feel the rapid change in temperature. The snow crunching below my shoes.

Then darkness falls again. Another death. Only 16 more deaths until I've won. Well if those two bangs just before the end of the countdown were deaths. When it is light again there are tall buildings like in the Capitol everywhere. The person I was chasing is nowhere in sight, so I head back to where I think the cornucopia is. Soon I see someone running with an axe straight towards me. I launch my spear at them and sticks straight into their stomach. Then the arena starts to change again.

The buildings have disappeared when I can see again. I start to run to where I can see the fighting going on at the cornucopia. I run onwards, my feet starting to sink into the wet muddy ground. I almost slip into a huge muddy puddle. I end up on my butt, when I scramble up. I turn around, just in time to see the sword stab me in my neck. I can't breathe. I'm trying, I just can't breathe. I wither around on the floor until the last of my strength fades. This wasn't supposed to be how it ends. I was supposed to win. It can't end like this.

 **Ariana's POV (D10F)**

I don't think it's a mistake anymore. I really don't I'm about to be thrown into an arena where the odds are I'm going to die.

"Here," My stylist hands me my jacket to put on "The black side up keeps you warm, the green keeps you cool." I put it on the green side up.

"Thanks." I say, I start to pace around, nervously. The waiting's worse. Not knowing what will be there. I'm just going to run. I need the supplies, but it's not worth the risk. I have the sponsor money that we've been given and hopefully I'll be able to get a knife or something so I can try to hunt to survive. I've learnt some edible plants and stuff in my time here too. I should be able to survive for a while providing I can get a clean water source.

"60 seconds until launch."

"Try to get out of there as quick as possible." My stylist advises. I nod, quickly taking a swig of water before stepping inside the cylinder that will almost certainly take me up to my death.

"Thanks, the dresses were beautiful." I don't want to die cruel. I was wrong to think that only wrong doers went into the games. If I'm going to die, which is almost certain to happen, I want people to remember me for being nice. I've been horrible and rude, I know that, but that's not all I want to be remembered for.

The sun beats down on my back as the cylinder rises up. I'm in a desert. I need to concentrate on where to run. In all directions there is sand, with the occasional cactus here and there. I can see something falling from the sky. A white object I'm just trying to work out what it is when I hear the bleeps from it, informing me that it's just a sponsor. There are two parachutes falling into the hands of two tributes.

They open them and inject themselves with the blue liquid in the syringe from the sponsor. They look at each other and smile. I wonder what the liquid did. I avert my gaze to where I am going to run when there is a bang from across the arena. Lumps of something fly up into the sky. A couple land me and I try to get a closer look at it. I almost gag. The landmines blew someone up. I can feel bile rising up in my throat. I swallow quickly, but the bitter taste remains in my mouth.

There's not long left of the countdown so I ready myself to run again but in the last 3 seconds two more landmines blow up. I stand for a few seconds in shock that the games hadn't really begun and three people were dead, but then I pulled myself together. I have to get out of here before I'm killed. I turn and run in the opposite direction to the cornucopia.

What's happening? The arena's suddenly gone dark. It's light again a few seconds later, but I'm in a completely different landscape. Instead of going over sand dunes I'm now going over snow dunes. And instead of the hot sun beating down on my back tiring me out, there is weak pale sunlight trying to peak through the grey clouds. I stop and rest for a few seconds, I can still see the fighting going on, but I haven't got good stamina and I have a stitch already. I carry on, stumbling through the snow, clutching my sides and breathing heavily. Smoke comes out of my mouth. I can hardly feel my toes, the snow has soaked through my shoes and into my socks so my feet are uncomfortably wet. I'm just wondering when the next death will be when the arena goes dark again.

There are now tall buildings everywhere. I think it's supposed to be the Capitol, I run to the nearest one and tug at the door, it swings open easily and I run inside out of the cold wind. Inside is just a bare room. I guess they didn't want us to pick up any gear from here. I can rest in here for a while. Until the next death anyway. It comes too soon. I'm still not properly warmed up.

My feet have got even wetter now. The arena is a huge wetland and I was in the worst possible place when the arena shifted. I'm now standing in the middle of a huge puddle. I slosh over to the edge and carry on walking over the muddy grass, picking my path carefully over the wet slippery terrain, taking care not to fall into a puddle. It's not long until the next change.

Finally, it's a landscape I can cope with. It's a beautiful meadow. There's lush green grass and flowers everywhere. I could look at it all day, but I carry on, the cornucopia is only in the distance now. Then there's a laugh behind me. I turn around. A mace is being swung at me head. There's pain. Then blackness. Then darkness. Then nothing.

 **Caleb's POV (D9M)**

I'm determined to win this thing. I won't let the Capitol kill me for what I said on the interview. I won't. To be able to kill the mutts they'll send after me I'll need gear though. I don't want to head straight for the cornucopia, but right now, it's my only option. Hopefully I can stay out of the fighting and just grab what I need. I only need a weapon, food and water. I can survive with that.

Bang! Bang! The landmine next to mine has just blown up. The one three down has too. I can see the bleeding flesh flying through the air. I duck and I large lump misses me by inches. At least there's two less competitors. I realise that it distracted me from running straight away and there's already someone running away from the cornucopia. I start running towards the inside of the tail.

The arena goes black. Someone must have died so the arena's changing. It's now freezing and I'm running through snow. I carry on running and reach the tail of the cornucopia. Someone's already in there, but I duck out of the way and hide behind a couple of boxes piled up. I look inside them. It just looks like some electrical equipment, but I have no use for it. I don't even know what it is, let alone how to use it. I crawl a meter or two to my right and grab a double edged sword. I should be able to use that. I can see a large backpack through the boxes too. I reach through and I'm about to grab it when the arena blackens again. While no one can see me, I grab the pack in the dark, and put it on just as the arena turns light again.

I crouching in front of a huge building, the sort found in the Capitol. I start running, I need to get away now, but my limp slows me down a bit. I turn around a corner and carry on running. Then down another street.

I keep turning down streets, I turn right, and find myself standing right at the cornucopia. Just my luck. Right then, the arena changes once more. The whole arena for as far as I can see, is just a large expanse of muddy grass and muddy water. Someone's charging straight at me. I swing the sword up at them and block the attack, then being my sword up in a wide arc, slicing their legs. I run off quickly, hoping they won't be able to follow. I'm running in the wrong direction though. I'm heading straight for the cornucopia.

And once again the arena morphs into a different landscape in complete darkness. I'm suddenly glad I'm at the cornucopia. It doesn't look like there's many people left here, but the cornucopia is now a raised platform in the middle of a volcano. The distance between the pedestals and cornucopia is just lava now, and I have to somehow get over it. I duck behind some spears while someone throws a rope over a jutting piece of rock and uses it to swing across the lava and climb up to safety. I guess I'll have to do the same. I wait until they're gone and grab a piece of rope start knotting it. It's a good thing I can remember the knot I need for this. I throw it across, and for once my aim isn't abysmal. I tighten the rope until I'm sure it will hold my weight then take a long run up and leap. I only just make it, but I'm clinging onto rock only inches above the sizzling lava. I start to climb quickly. I'm too exposed out here. I could easily be shot off. I'm almost at the top when a ball of lava comes out of nowhere. I duck, but it still hits. Then there's only agony as I fall into the bubbling lava below.

 **14** **th** **: Caleb (D9M) – Game makers throw a lava ball at him and he burned in lava**

 **15** **th** **: Ariana (D10F) – Mace to the head by D10M**

 **16** **th** **: Phoenix (D4M) – Sword to the neck by D2F**

 **17** **th** **: Julius (D2M) – Spear to the stomach by D4M**

 **18** **th** **: Attaya (D6F) – Arrow to her chest by D8F**

 **19** **th** **: Tyla (D11M) – Stabbed in the back with a knife by D1F**

 **20** **th** **: Farah (D3F) – Half a wooden box thrown at her landmines by D7F blew her up**

 **21** **st** **: Ciaran (D7M) - Half a wooden box thrown at him landmines by D7F blew him up**

 **22** **nd** **: Daria (D5F) – Jumped off pedestal before the countdown was finished and blew herself up**

 **I wasn't sure how many to have die at the cornucopia cos I wanted there to be lots of action, but I also didn't want to kill so many off that the games only lasted a couple of days. Hope I got the balance right and please tell me what you think.**


	19. Chapter 18

**I love writing the actual games so I've been typing super quick today and managed to finish this in no time. I just want to warn you, you have to start reading chapters carefully, I don't think I've done it too much in this chapter, but from now on in one person's POV it may be evening of one day and then it may jump to evening of the previous day. They will all be similar timesish. But if you get confused that's why. I won't be able to update until Wednesday now because I have to revise for my RE GCSE on Monday over the weekend and I don't have time to write on Tuesdays. I hope you enjoy and please let me know what you think, your reviews mean the world to me.**

 **Chapter 18**

 **Aria's POV (D2F)**

 **Day 1, after the bloodbath/ Day 2 early morning**

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Nine deaths in the bloodbath. I wonder who they are. I didn't kill anyone in the bloodbath. No one noticed me. I didn't hide, I just kept out of the way. I grabbed a smallish pack and a whip straight away because they were the nearest stuff to my pedestal, then I just climbed up the cornucopia. No one saw me. I just stayed there until everyone left. I knew roughly how many deaths there were, but it was hard to keep track especially when the arena changed to the Capitol so lots of people were hidden by buildings. I feel sorry for the person that got a lava ball thrown at them. It wasn't like their wasn't any other action going on, they just wanted to kill them for the sake of it.

Once they fell into the lava the arena went dark again. This time the arena was an abandoned city. There was just ruins of ancient buildings everywhere. I jump down and start sorting through the supplies that are left. There are tonnes of packs and weapons. I start by sorting through the packs to see what there is. I quickly work out that there are four different types of packs. The green ones contain only packs of food. The red ones contains: a small empty water bottle, some rope, a jumper, a couple of knife blades and a sleeping bag. The yellow ones contain mainly medical supplies, mainly bandages and fever tablets but they also do have a 1 litre bottle filled with water. The blue one probably contains the most useful stuff: wires, matches, night vision goggles, water purification tablets and weirdly of all a syringe of red liquid. I wonder what it does.

I take the largest pack I can find and start sorting through the stuff I'll take with me. I decide to inject myself with the red liquid to see what it does, if it's not very useful I won't take loads with me. It doesn't seem to have much effect but I'll take a couple with me just in case. When I'm finished my pack is full with: a sleeping bag, three full water bottles, some wire, a jumper, water purification tablets, bandages, matches, night vision goggles, fever tablets and a tonne of food. I'm just about to start sorting through which weapons to take with me when a knife whizzes past my ear. I spin around. That's weird. I can see that it's Flynn. That must be what the liquid does. It's the anti-serum for the one we were given to make us all think we're the same.

"Flynn." I shout "Flynn stop!" He aims another knife.

"How do you know?" I chuck a syringe at him. "How do I know it's not a trap and you're going to poison me. I pick my whip up and grab another syringe. I go over to him and take the syringe off him and inject it into my arm.

"See?" I give him the other one and he injects it into himself.

"Woah." He grins.

"Allies?" I ask, readying my whip in case he says no. He nods.

"Sure, but only until the final 8." He adds. I nod in agreement.

"I was just sorting through my gear." I nod towards the huge pile. "You might as well grab a pack and take what you need." He nods and starts doing so while I sort through the weapons. I strap a double bladed sword to my back and put some throwing knives into their leather cases and secure them to the inside of my jacket . The leather is to stop me being stabbed if I fall over. I take a bow and quiver of arrows and a spear and I'm all geared up. "What weapons do you want?" I ask Flynn so I can get them for him.

"Sword, mace and some more throwing knives." He says and I quickly find them amongst the pile of weapons.

"What's our strategy then?" I ask him.

"The usual career stuff." He says "There's only you and me, so we can't leave a guard when we go hunting, but we'll pile everything we're not taking into the cornucopia and then set up loads of wire traps so no one can get the stuff unless they know the way in, which only we'll know."

"Let's start taking the stuff then." I say, lifting up a couple of packs and start taking them inside. It doesn't take long and we're soon setting up all the traps we need. Now there's a career pack, the games are only just beginning

 **Maximus' POV (D10M)**

I killed someone, I don't know who though. They all look the same. Whoever I killed was never going to last long. They didn't even go for anything at the cornucopia and they couldn't keep running for more than a minute. I did it quick though. Just a blow to the head with the mace I had grabbed at the cornucopia. I ran on as soon as I saw they were dead. I need to get away from the cornucopia. I may have just got a kill, but they were defenceless and probably only as strong as I am. I have no chance against a career.

While I'm running the arena changes. It had changed when I killed that person, but it changed again from a volcano to some ancient ruins. If no one else dies before nightfall I'll shelter in one of the old ruins. I'll be out of the wind at least. There have been 9 deaths. I wonder who they are. I allow myself to stop for a couple of minutes to sort through the pack I got at the cornucopia. I have: a empty water bottle, some rope, a jumper, a couple of knife blades and a sleeping bag. I want to find a water source before night falls. The floor's dusty and sandy. Insects buzz around my head. I keep swatting them away, but they keep returning.

By mid-afternoon I am exhausted and have to set up camp in an abandoned building. I take one of the knife blades and try to catch one of the many lizards that are skittering over the floor. I only manage to get one small one but I don't have anything to light a fire with. I slit the scaly skin off it and look at the meat inside. It looks disgusting, but I'm starving so I pull the meat out and chew on it slowly. It's really gristly, but I swallow it and it quenches my hunger, just a little. I rip a small hole out of the sleeping bag and tie the rope to my foot and set it up so if someone comes into the broken doorway I'll wake up and can grab my stuff and hide in the shadows until they leave. I keep my mace and my pack by my hand in case. I curl up and let myself sleep.

The Capitol seal wakes me up. There haven't been any more deaths since I went to sleep but the faces of the: District 2 male, District 3 female, District 4 male, District 5 male, District 6 female, District 7 male, District 9 male, District 10 female and the District 11 male. I wonder who it was that killed Ariana. I hope it was quick, whoever killed her. She was okay, I suppose once she realised the games aren't rigged, they're just random.

"I'm sorry Ariana." I whisper to myself. I curl up once more. I'll need rest for tomorrow, I need to find a water source or I'm going to die of dehydration.

 **Helena's POV (D8F)**

We're just running now. As far away from the cornucopia as possible. It went pretty well for us. We both got the weapons we wanted and we both have a pack each. Mine's green and his is yellow. We haven't had chance to sort through the stuff yet. We've decided when the cannons blast symbolising the end of the bloodbath we'll stop and have a rest.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Nine deaths. There were three before the countdown, and the person I killed. I don't know how I feel about murdering someone. I keep seeing them fall down dead, but I know if I hadn't done it, Hecate would have died. I had to do it. I couldn't let Hecate die.

"Let's rest here." Hecate pointed to a pile of rubble that was sheltered by a large pillar of stone. I nod and sit down there, pulling the pack off my back. I unzip my bag and look inside. The first thing I find is a huge can of stew. I delve further in to find a box of garlic bread sticks. The next thing I find is a pack of nuts. I tip my bag upside down and shake it see if there's anything but food in it. There's not. At least we won't die of hunger.

"I've just got food, you?" I ask Hecate, looking at him.

"Medical supplies and water." He says, offering the bottle to me. I shake my head.

"There's not much and we can survive without any for now. We need to ration it until we can find a water source." I say. He nods and brings out the bandages and tablets out of his bag. We divvy up our stuff so my pack has food and medical supplies and his does too. He insists that I also take the water, and says if I don't he'll stab himself with his spear. I hate him so much. He's going to be the one coming out of the arena alive, not me.

"Let's go look for a water source then." He says "We're not going to survive long without it." I nod and carry on, walking quickly over the sand and rubble. We're soon sweating lots and panting in the hot afternoon sun.

"Shall we stop for food?" I ask Hecate. He nods, and we sit down in the shade of an abandoned building. He opens his pack.

"Tinned tomato and a hint of basil soup?" He says.

"I'd eat anything right now." I grin. He opens it and we sit sipping it. Now my hunger has been quenched, my thirst is more prominent than ever.

"Do you hear that?" Hecate says after we've been walking on a while.

"What?" I ask, but he's already racing to the left as if a mutt was chasing him. I catch up quickly and then I hear what he heard. Water. Fresh running water. "You're hearing is good." I say. I hadn't heard it until we were closer. We soon reach it. Hecate crouches on the floor and starts going through his pack.

"Got them." He says pulling out a packet of tablets.

"What?" I ask, the water looks pretty clean.

"Water purification tablets, it may look clean, but we can't take that risk." He replies. I hand him our water bottle and he takes a sip and passes it to me. We sit together drinking sips until we've finished it and then we fill it up from the stream. Hecate pops a tablet in and shakes it. "We have to keep it in there for 15 minutes at least."

"I'm fine now I've had some water." I say "We should set up camp here."

"Okay," He says, picking his pack back up. "We need to find shelter in one of the old buildings first though." I nod, grabbing my pack and the water bottle. I screw the lid back on and put it in my pack. We start looking around the remains of the buildings for somewhere suitable.

"Will this do?" I say, it's a corner of a room where the walls are still mostly intact and there's a small bit of ceiling above it.

"There's nowhere better." Hecate says "I'll take first watch, you get some rest."

"No it's okay, I'll keep watch." I say, taking my pack off and leaning against the wall.

"I volunteered to protect you, and I say you need rest."

"And how are you supposed to protect me if you don't get any rest." I give him a quick kiss and then he finally gives in and curls up on the rocks.

When the seal in the sky comes up, I wake Hecate and watch the faces of the dead staring down at us: District 2 male, District 3 female, District 4 male, District 5 male, District 6 female, District 7 male, District 9 male, District 10 female and the District 11 male. They're all dead. It's weird to think that 24 hours ago, they were all alive, alive and hopeful that they may escape.

"I'll take over now." Hecate says. I finally give in and curl up, my head on his lap, gazing up at the inky black night sky and I sleep.

"Helena!" Hecate's shaking me awake. "Come on. We have to go." I Shift slightly to grab my bow. That's when something punctures my lungs.

 **Thalia's POV (D11F)**

I grabbed the nearest stuff and ran. I didn't stop until I heard the nine canon booms. Nine deaths. I have no idea who any of them are. It means my odds in the games just went up though. I stop in the shade of one of the ruins and sort through my stuff. I have a long knife which will probably provide my food source for most of the games unless my pack has some food in it. I unzip it and examine the contents: wires, matches, night vision goggles, water purification tablets and weirdly of all a syringe of red liquid. It's all pretty useful stuff, but I don't know what the red liquid is, so I'll keep it until I work it out. I just wish there was some water too. I did also manage to grab a pack of dried beef strips that was lying near the knife. I want to conserve them for as long as possible though. If I can hunt, I will just in case I am close to starvation and can't hunt for whatever reason.

I put everything back in my pack and turn back towards the cornucopia. Now the bloodbath's over and there won't be a career pack this year, there may still be some useful stuff there that I can get without being at risk of being killed. Going back takes a lot longer than it took to get me here, I was running then, but my mouth's already as dry as sandpaper and I have no water. Also it's nearly the hottest part of the day. I'm getting really hot, but there's not a lot I can do, I've already stuffed my jacket into my bag. No! I remember. My jacket. One side reflects heat, the other reflects cold. I just need to turn it inside out. Once I've done this, walking becomes a lot easier, though I still need a drink, but I am able to go at a faster pace now.

I can just see it in the distance now. There are voices there, shouting and laughing to one another. Maybe the couple from 8 are there, they were sponsored the anti-serum so they could ally. Well, at least I presume it was them.

"Come on, have you sorted the traps out now?" One calls to the other. I move behind a pile of rubble a bit closer so I can watch, but far enough away that they can't see me.

"Yeah, tribute hunting now?" I really hope they don't spot me.

"Yeah, it's a good thing you found out what that red serum stuff does." The first one replies.

"Good for you, I would have killed you if I hadn't known what it does." The other one laughs.

"I'd like to see you try."

"I could kill you any day, at this stage in the games allies are tactical, especially when most people can't ally."

"Some people will figure out the red liquid is the anti-serum though." This is useful information. I'll use mine then, I can find out who these tributes are. They seem to have the arrogance of a career so I expect it'll be a couple of them.

"Hurry up." One picks up a sword and they head off in the opposite direction to me. I pull my pack off and take the syringe out. I've always hated needles, so I just jab it into my arm quickly before I can get scared about it. I wait a few more minutes to make sure they won't be back. Silence.

I take my pack and run to the cornucopia. I heard what one of them said about the traps, so I keep well away, but I needn't have been so wary. They're really obvious to spot. I look inside. They've piled all the stuff up at the back. I really need to try to get some of that stuff. I take my knife out and examine the traps. They seem pretty complex, but once I've looked at them all, it should be pretty simple to get past them. I just need to be pretty flexible. I shimmy underneath the first wire and then stand up carefully and then step carefully over the next one. I carry on doing this until I'm inside. I want to run straight towards the stuff, but I need to be careful in case there are any more traps in here. It seems to be okay, so I go over to the pile of stuff carefully.

I start to look through the packs. There's quite a lot of water which is good. I'll need to take another pack to take my stuff with me. My pack already had quite a bit of survival stuff in it already so I only take another coil of wire. I take a pack, empty it and put a couple of bottles of water in it and four or five packs of food. I don't want them to notice I've been here. I also put some first aid stuff and a flashlight in it.

I turn to the weapons next. I already have my knife, but I could do with some other stuff. While I'm digging through the weapons to see what I can use, I spot something right in the corner of the cornucopia. It's hidden by the shadow so no one must have spotted it before. I go over and look at it. It's a blowgun with twenty five darts in. That could really come in handy if I spot someone and they haven't seen me. I may even be able to take out the two tributes camping out here, if I'm careful. I turn around and start to look at the traps to plan my route.

I can come back another day and take some more stuff. I don't want to take loads of stuff at a time and I can easily come back again when they're out hunting other tributes. I need to be careful getting out now, if I don't get past the traps again, all this would have been for nothing.

I'm soon out having squeezed past the wires and stuff and I hurry along. I want to stay near to the cornucopia, so I can raid them again if necessary. I don't want to be close enough so they find me though. I walk for about twenty minutes before finding a room in one of the old buildings that will keep me sheltered. I sit down and sip my water slowly. I don't want to have to go back to the cornucopia for a couple of days.

 **Hehehe. Sorry for leaving Helena's POV on a cliff-hanger, it was just too tempting. I know I'm evil. BTW I'm gonna start letting you guys start sponsoring your favourite tributes so long as you drop a review every once in a while. Nothing huge that will change the whole games, but small things that may come in handy. PM me if there's something you want to sponsor to someone.**


	20. Chapter 19

**I did warn you last chapter, the timings jump around a little bit in this chapter, but if you pay attention, I don't think it'll be too hard to follow. Hope you enjoy and please review, and remember if you want to sponsor you're favourite tribute something, PM me and I might consider it. Also if you want them to survive longer I WILL MAKE YOU BEG FOR MERCY. JK. Leave a review telling me why they're your favourite character and they'll probably stay alive for longer.**

 **Just wanna say thank you to Taylor1103 and cjborange for reviewing on my last chapter, reviews like those are why I keep writing. :).**

 **Chapter 19**

 **Flynn's POV (D1M)**

 **Day 2/Day 3**

We've found the lovers from 8. The girl is asleep on the boy's lap. When the boy sees us, he starts to wake her up, but I'm too quick. I aim for her heart, but she shifts slightly as she wakes so it hits her roughly where her lungs are. The boy, howls at us in anger. He grabs a spear and charges at the two of us. This should be fun.

I pull my sword out in front of me.

"Run Hecate." The girl whispers.

"You're not going anywhere." I laugh and swing my sword up in a long arc across his chest. He blocks with his spear, but only just in time. He'll be easy to kill. Aria pulls her whip out and flicks the spear lazily out of his hand. He pulls his hand back in a flash, and dives for the spear. A lash catches him on the cheek. He picks the spear up, ignoring the pain, and charges straight at Aria. The spear goes into her stomach, but not very far. She's loosing blood though.

"Go," Hecate snarls "Or I'll kill you too." I don't know why he doesn't try and attack me now too. I grab Aria's arm and we go out. We find a sheltered area just as the canon goes. When the arena has finished shifting, I quickly pull her jacket and t-shirt up.

"We need to stop the bleeding." She says, pulling bandages out of her pack. I grab a bottle of water and tear off some of the bandages. I soak them in water then hold them to the wound. "Argh." She screams.

"Shhh." I say, she can't alert every one of our whereabouts. I'd have to just run if she did that, I need strong allies. If she heals up in a few days it should be fine though. I take a jumper out of her pack and give it her. "Bite on that if you can't help but scream. I carry on pressing the bandages to the wound and they turn a pale pink. Eventually, the bleeding stops. I take an antiseptic wipe and gently wipe it around the wound in case it's infected and then bandage it up. "That should do."

"We should be able to get back if I have some food and water." She says. I look around. I wasn't paying attention to the new arena before. The whole arena, or at least I presume the whole arena, has become a mountain. It's huge and we're pretty high up it. At the summit is the cornucopia. I hand her the rest of the bottle that I used to soak the bandages and she takes sips and then opens a pack of crackers, offering me one. I take one and munch it slowly. "I'm ready." I help her up. I could easily kill her now, but once she's better, she'll provide a lot of strength to the alliance, plus people back home will hate me for deliberately killing my own district partner.

We climb up slowly and just as the sun is starting to rise, we reach the cornucopia again.

"I'll take first watch." I say, slinging my pack on the floor.

"I'll just check the traps." She says, and goes to the entrance of the cornucopia. "Nothing." She gets her sleeping bag out and I go and join her, sitting a couple of meters away from my bag. I sit and watch as the sun rises over the mountain. Its colours bleeds into the sky and clouds, turning them the same pale pink as the wet bandage last night, or this morning depending on what way you look at it.

When the sun rises properly, I wake Aria and she sits up, leaning against the cornucopia, keeping watch. It's pretty cold at the top of the mountain, so I get my sleeping bag out and snuggle into its warmth. Ten deaths already, I can't wait to see what today will bring.

 **Bea's POV (D7F)**

Yesterday went as well as I hoped. I killed the two people either side from me just before the countdown and grabbed the stuff I wanted and legged it quick. I kept walking yesterday. Just walking and walking. I needed to get as far from the cornucopia as possible.

I tried and failed to find a water source by evening but I found a pretty safe place to sleep, providing no one dies in the night. I had to take the risk though.

I scaled up the old ruins and lay on top of a broken roof. It was really hard, but at least no one could see me. I was hidden from the ground, and no one else is good enough to climb up here, I don't think. I only grabbed a pack and some matches that were laying near to it. I sorted my stuff in my pack. I didn't want to stop to do it earlier. As I went through it I prayed that there would be water. There wasn't but I did get a tonne of food. I opened a can of stew and ate it quickly. Then the seal came up. The District 2 male, District 3 female, District 4 male, District 5 male, District 6 female, District 7 male, District 9 male, District 10 female and the District 11 male are all dead. I'm kinda glad Ciaran died, at least it won't have to be between us two now. He was a nice guy though. I curl up and sleep.

Today, however, isn't going nearly as well. Someone died in the night. I was lucky though, I grabbed my pack and rested my head on it, so my head wasn't injured. The building wasn't particularly high either, but I think I have a sprained ankle which is a major issue. Just when I'm about to stand up on the now rocky mountainside, there's a loud beep. Beep! Beep! Beep! I look up. I have a sponsor. I must have quite a bit thinking about it because I automatically got the two people that I killed yesterday's provided sponsor money and the $50 provided in my pool. Later in the games $150 isn't much but at this point it can buy a few things.

The package it is carrying is pretty small, and I struggle to open the catch on it. I soon manage it and open it. There's a small pot of cream, a small bottle filled with water and a bandage. Underneath these is a note.

 _Apply every 6 hours and it should heal pretty quickly. The audience are loving you. Don't drink the water all at once. Good luck!_

 _~L_

I smile and unscrew the pot. I take a sliver of the cream out and rub it into my ankle, before going for another small sliver. I don't want to use it all at once. Then I wrap the bandage tightly around it and try standing up. I won't be able to go far, and I won't be winning any fights in the next couple of days, but it should heal up okay. I open the bottle and take a small sip. It may have to last me until I can walk properly again so I have to conserve it. I take another sip and then firmly put the lid back on the bottle. It would be a disaster if I didn't put it on properly and it leaked or something. I start sorting through all the food in my pack.

I've realised there's quite a few tins of fruit, if I save them for if I run out of water it'll help because they have juices or are in juices. I'll take longer to become dehydrated that way. I put all the tins of fruit in the bottom of my pack and the drier foods at the top and then try to find somewhere nearby I can stay for a while.

I can't put weight on my ankle for very long so I search carefully and then I hit a stroke of luck. At first I just think it's a cave that'll be good to shelter in, but when I go further in, I discover a tiny tunnel running through it with a small stream. I'll have a water source until the arena changes again. I can boil it with the matches that I got at the cornucopia to make sure it's safe to drink. If only my ankle was better I'd have a really good chance in these games. As it is, because of the cream I was sponsored, it shouldn't be too long before it's healed.

I rest my ankle for a while, then I head out the cave. I'll need wood if I'm going to light a fire. There are small groups of trees every so often, so I just need to get to one of those to collect the wood. I have to stop and rest my ankle several times, but I manage it. When I'm there, I fill my whole pack with wood and dry leaves before resting and heading back. It took me about an hour and half in total, but it'll be worth it. I'll be able to have as much water as I want until the arena changes now.

I rest for a while when I get back, but then I get to work building the fire. I wash the empty stew can out and then fill it with water. I hold it over the fire with two long sticks until it starts to bubble. It's fine to drink now. I pour it into my now empty bottle and leave it out to cool while I do another can. It's quite time consuming, but it's way better than dehydrating. I really do have a chance in the games.

 **Lily's POV (D9F)**

I really need some water. My lips are cracked and bleeding. I haven't had any water since the bottle I drank in the launch room. I don't have much strength to keep going. It's been slightly better since the arena changed from an abandoned city to a mountain. It's cooler so I sweat a lot less. I'm starving too. I didn't head near the cornucopia, but I'm really regretting it now. I sit down on a large boulder for a rest. That's when I hear the magical sound I've been listening out for: running water.

I stand up and rush towards it. I use the last of my strength getting there and I collapse by the stream that's gurgling there. It's crystal clear and I cup my hands and drink. It doesn't taste very nice, but it's way better than nothing. I don't know how long I sit there and drink for but it feels so good. My lips have stopped bleeding and my hunger is more prominent than ever. I have no way of knowing if the water was safe to drink, but if I hadn't drunk it then I would have died of dehydration.

Once I've drunk all I can, I go over to a boulder and lean against it as day turns to dusk. I'll stay here until the arena changes. Unless the game makers have over plans though of course. I look up at the sky as the Capitol seal comes up. Only one person died today. The girl from 8 appears in the sky. The boy from 8 will be upset, but they were allying so now it'll only ever be one on one which does improve my chance a lot.

I close my eyes now and go to sleep until I am woken up by a bang the next morning. By the time I open my eyes the arena has already shifted. This shift is good in some ways and bad in others. The arena has turned into a cornfield. I can strip the corn off the crops and eat that though. I quickly grab one and start to strip it of the green stuff outside the corn on the inside. I take a huge bite of the corn. Mmm. It's good. I prefer it cooked and with butter, not that I could afford that much at home, but I'm so hungry I don't care. I soon polish it off and start on another.

Soon I've eaten five and I'm feeling a lot better. My only issue with the new arena is that I can't see if someone's coming to attack me. They're hidden by the corn plants. I start walking to try to find water. There has to be a river or something running through here, the corn would dry out if there was no water. The water from the river must seep into the soil keeping it moist for the corn to grow.

As I'm looking for water I pick corn and make a little pack out of my jacket to keep them in. It won't last long, but I'll eat it when I get hungry then pick more. I want to keep a good store at all times though so I'll have food for 2 or 3 days once the arena's changed. I need to be prepared.

At about midday I start to vomit really bad. I hope it's just the corn and not the water from last night, but when I get cramps a little while later I'm pretty sure I have caught something from the bacteria in the water. I need medicine and fast. I won't have many sponsors though and the $50 I got automatically wouldn't cover the medicine on day 1, let alone day 3.

 **Hank's POV (D3M)**

I am so glad I decided to risk the bloodbath. I got two boxes that were easy to drag behind me and a bow. I almost got killed a couple of times, but I survived. Somehow. I'm not sure how, but I managed it. And I got some pretty useful stuff.

After getting out the bloodbath alive I've been concentrating on finding a clean water source. I was pretty close to dehydration until by some luck, someone died and the arena changed to a mountain with a stream flowing right next to where I was standing. I sterilised some water and drunk that.

Now the arena has changed to a corn field and I need to find another water source. At least the cornfield provides me with a source of food. I eat as many bits of corn as I can and then start wandering to find water.

When it gets to midday, I sit down. I don't have a water source, but I need to put my taser together. I pull the stuff out of the boxes and start to work. It takes me quite a long time because I don't have the same stuff as in the Capitol, this stuff isn't as good but it'll still work just as well. By dusk it's finished and I eat another couple of bits of corn as the Capitol seal comes up. Only one person died today. It's the girl from 1, I wonder who killed her. She had a pretty high score, they must have been a pretty powerful tribute. I just hope they get killed by a mutt or something before they find me. I get up and walk to try and find water, I'm getting dehydrated and I really need water soon. I can't depend on sponsors for water, but I do have my $50 in my sponsor pool. I don't know what that will buy at the end of day 3 though.

 **Thalia's POV (D11F)**

I watched the pair return from their hunt last night, and I'm going back there now, in the very early morning. Yesterday was pretty uneventful, only one death. I keep hidden behind boulders and stuff, I just want to see what they're up to. The boy's asleep and the girl's sitting against the cornucopia, keeping watch. She starts to pull her top up. Behind it is a bandage that is stained slightly red. I wonder who did that to her. Once she's unravelled it completely, it reveals a deep wound encrusted with yellow pus. The wound must have got infected. She pulls something out of her bag and starts dabbing at the bits with pus. It doesn't really do anything that I can see, but she hisses slightly. In the end she chucks whatever it was she was using and then starts squeezing the bits with pus with her fingers until pus starts running down her waist. She hisses in pain slightly at this too, but it appears to be doing the job because she carries on.

Beep! Beep! Beep! A parachute falls to the girl. She looks up and catches it, wincing in the process. She undoes the container attached to it and brings a syringe of clear liquid out and injects it into her. It'll probably heal her really quickly. I can't let a tribute as strong as her go roaming around the arena. She may end up being the one to kill me later on. I load up my blowgun and aim. It goes straight into her heart. She gasps and the canon bangs, symbolising her death. I make my escape quickly as the arena changes. It's a corn field this time. I haven't had corn in years, it's one of my favourite foods. It's like the game makers are congratulating me on my kill. I munch on my corn as I wander on. Not too far though. I want to know where the cornucopia is at all times.

 **Deaths:**

 **12** **th** **:Aria (D1F) – Dart from blowgun to the heart by D11F**

 **13** **th** **: Helena (D8F) – Knife to lung by D1M**


	21. Chapter 20

**I'll try and get another update out this week, but no promises. Oh how I** _ **love**_ **exams so much. NOT. Please tell me what you think and enjoy.**

 **Chapter 20**

 **Day 4/5**

 **Elodie's POV (D2F)**

 **Day 4**

I rip a piece of corn off a plant and start munching off it. All I ate yesterday was corn because while the arena is providing my with free food, I might as well take it and preserve the food from the cornucopia for as long as possible. I used to love corn, but now I'm sick to death of it. I sit down once I've finished the corn and get my salve out. Someone slashed my legs at the bloodbath. They weren't too bad so I was fine, but I was sponsored some slave that will stop any infection.

Once I'm done I lay down carefully, so unless you came right next to me, you wouldn't see me sleeping amongst the corn. I close my eyes and when I open them it's midday. The sun's hot on my back, so I put my jacket on to reflect heat and I take a sip of water. I got four packs at the cornucopia so I have quite a bit of gear. The first two bags only had medical supplies and water in, but they're pretty useful. I've been rationing the water though, I don't want to die of dehydration. One bag contained just food which has been very helpful because I haven't been able to hunt because of the biomes the arena's been so far. My last bag has been pretty useful so far though. It has a load of survival stuff and a syringe with red liquid. I have no idea what it actually does though. I injected myself with it, but nothing really happened. I might find out what it does later though.

I put my sword down by my hand to grab it at a moment's notice. On the first day I sorted through all my packs. I knew it would be awkward to keep carrying four packs around with me so I organised them. I managed to fit almost everything into one pack, mainly due to the fact that they don't fill the packs up to the top. I was left with three or four small cans that I couldn't fit in, so I just ate them first. I also keep the pack near me to grab that too.

When I wake it is nearing dusk. I've slept for hours. It'll give me a lot of strength to hunt tributes. I sit up and eat a couple of bits of corn and watch as the seal comes up. There were no deaths today. The action has really died down since the bloodbath, the game makers will probably add a twist soon if nothing happens before morning. I gather my stuff and walk on, munching on a piece of corn as I go.

I pick up someone's trail at about midnight. I end up stepping in their puke. It's pretty gross and I have to wipe it off my shoes onto a nearby plant. Great. No I stink of someone else's vomit. At least I know someone's been here. Soon I also find a flattened area of plants and not long after that a few eaten corn cobs. I must be getting close. Right then, the arena changes.

 **Lily's POV (D9F)**

I should've known not to drink the water, but I was so thirsty. I've been getting major cramps all day. I haven't been able to walk very far. I'm really dehydrated too. Since yesterday evening I've been getting really bad diarrhoea. Unless by some miracle I get loads of sponsors, I'm going to die now. Well maybe not now, but soon. No one died today. I curl up and sleep.

I awake the next morning even thirstier than last night. I don't have long to live. I hope my parents aren't watching.

 **Callum's POV (D5M)**

The arena starts to shift just as I am picking some bits of corn. I can't see properly. There's water all around me. I can see a hazy light above me and I kick out to reach it. Black spots fill my vision. I can't breathe. I'm drowning. Then I make it up. I take a huge gulp of fresh air. It feels so good. Somehow I still managed to keep hold of the trident and pack, and even more weirdly, the corn I was just picking. I got at the cornucopia. I tread water slowly, taking in my surroundings. I can't see the cornucopia, but in the general direction of it there is an island. That must be where it is. Dotted around are several islands. The nearest is about 300 meters away. I start swimming slowly towards it. It's pretty hard with the trident in my hand, but I have to keep it, it's my only weapon. If I don't have it and I'm attacked, I'm completely defenceless.

I reach the island, and collapse on the beach, coughing. I hope the stuff in my pack isn't ruined from the water. My chances of survival are going to go down to almost 0 if that happens. I open it up. The jumper in it is soaking, but I can dry it off, so it doesn't really matter. My sleeping bag is also soaking, which is a bit more annoying, but I can cope with it, I'll just have to find somewhere in the sun to dry it off, but without being too exposed. The knife blades were bundled up in the sleeping bag, so they're fine. The rope is just wet, but it's also fine. I just hope the salty sea water didn't get into my bottle of water. Not that there's much left. I unscrew the lid and sniff it. It doesn't taste salty, but to be sure, I dip my pinkie finger in it and lick it. It's safe to drink. Good. I put all my stuff back in the bag and pick up my trident. It's only morning, but I need to find a water source somewhere or I'll have run out of water by this evening. I start examining the corn I picked next.

It's pretty wet, and may well be very salty, but I have no other food. I dry it off and take a tentative bite. It is slightly salty, but it's way better than nothing. I eat the rest of it and then put the other three bits in my bag for later. I don't want to eat it all now, I'll get thirsty quicker from the salt if I do.

I start looking around for a way off the beach. I seem to only have two options. I don't like either of them. The first one is to swim around the island and find a way. The second is to climb up the sheer cliff face. I don't want to swim around the island. It's not a good idea for a number of reasons. I'm not a particularly good swimmer, it's awkward to swim with all my gear and there's no guarantee that I'll find somewhere anyway.

That leaves climbing the cliff. I don't like it much more than the first option, but it's slightly better. I'll have to go slowly and carefully. I tuck my trident in my back and zip it so it just sticks out the top. I'll need both hands if I'm to have any chance of survival. I pull myself up onto the first crevice.

I eventually make it. I lay on the side of the cliff, my arms drained from the long climb. I sit and pant, before getting back up and looking for water and food.

 **Isla's POV (D4F)**

The sound of the canon wakes me. In the darkness the cornfield around me shifts into the new arena. It's light again. There's water swirling around my ankles. It's quite soothing though. I look around. The whole arena is made up of sea and desert islands. I was lucky, I ended up on the beach of an island, some people will be struggling to make it to an island now. This new arena will make it hard for me to hunt and kill other tributes. Unless they happen to be on my island of course. Then it'll be easy. Unless they're an exceptionally good swimmer, they won't be able to get off the island until the arena shifts, and with me on this island, it'll probably be their death the arena's shifting for.

I decide, for now, just to go hunting for food. My stores are running low, and I don't want something like starvation to kill me. Anthony would have never let starvation kill him. He'd find some way, somehow. I take my trident and stand in the shallows, watching for fish to come swimming past. There doesn't seem to be much so I wade further into the warm salty water. Here I'm in my element. I see one and jab down quickly. I pull it out and grab the fish off it. I'll collect a couple more and then start a fire to cook them. The smoke may attract tributes to kill as well.

I'm just about to head back to shore with my three large fish a little while later when a ginormous wave comes out of nowhere and completely soaks me. Great. Then I see what caused it. A shark. It's not any normal shark though. It's a shark mutt. Instead of teeth it has sharp daggers, whirring in its mouth. A red beam shoots towards me, I duck, but it singes the top of my hair. Great, it has laser eyes too. I ready my trident as it opens its mouth and swims towards me. I chuck it, and it lodges itself right in the middle of the mouth. It doesn't stop the shark though. I back off a bit while taking my bow out and aiming. Twang! There's a small spark. That's one laser eye down. Twang! I just miss the other eye as it moves closer. I notch another arrow. Twang! The other eye's down.

It's getting closer. I run up the beach. Surely it can't follow me up onto the sand. It'll get beached. The game makers seriously must hate me though because as it swims towards me, it morphs into a giant crab, its pincers as sharp as my sword. It scuttles sideways across the wet sand towards me. It's now to close for the bow to be of use, so I chuck it to the side to pick up later. I only have a sword, throwing knives and an axe left now. I pull the sword off my back and approach it carefully. If I'm careful, I should be able to kill it easily. Crabs can only walk sideways. I swing my sword up and chop one of its legs off and duck as the pincer swings towards me. I dodge out of the way, as it comes towards me, stumbling. I bring my sword crashing down on the pincer, but it must be armoured or something because it bounces straight off it. I need to find its weakness.

I dart back to the exposed belly of the crab and slash my sword across. Red blood spurts out onto my face, but I carry on and jab it again, and it finally rolls over in the sand, unmoving. I wipe the warm blood off and clean my hands in the deep blue sea, it turns slightly red and I go back to the beach to cook my fish.

I start to walk over the island to find other tributes. I munch on a warm piece of fish as I go. It's actually pretty nice, despite it being slightly overdone. I walk over the perimeter of the island, I haven't seen anyone at all. I did see a few footprints on a beach on the other side of the island though. They wander around a little, but then head over to the cliff. They must have climbed up it. I look around for any signs that they fell and dragged themselves over to a sheltered area. But there's nothing. The way down here was pretty hidden so they probably didn't find it. I head back up and start looking at the area where they climbed up the cliff. The grass is a bit flattened but there's no other signs. At least I know there's at least one other person on this island.

I'll hunt them tomorrow though, I need to sleep for a while now. Well, I probably could hunt for a few more hours, but I want to have as much energy as possible for when I find other tributes. Or in case they send another mutt after me.

 **Hecate's POV (D8M)**

I decide to take a break from watching the cornucopia. I need to hunt for food, and I can't get to the food in the cornucopia because they've set traps up. I so wish I hadn't given them a chance to get away. Now I have to hunt them down, I don't even know who they are, I'm guessing if they're allying and hunting people down though, they're careers and have set a base up at the cornucopia. It certainly looks like someone's here, but since I've found it last night, I haven't seen anyone.

I was glad that I was near to it when the arena shifted a little after I found it last night though. It meant I was on an island, some people will have lost all the gear they had to the sea. I head down to the sandy beach and wade into the sea. I quickly jab my spear down when I see a fish swim past, but I'm too slow and it swims off unscathed.

Beep! Beep! Beep! I look up and a parachute is floating down to me.

 _Figured you'd need cheering up. The audience are loving you. Try to take them down while they're asleep, you won't win otherwise. Don't eat it all at once and concentrate on getting back alive_

 _~T_

I remove the note, and sitting below it, is about twenty bits of chicken legs and bones. They're warm and smell spicy. I walk back up the beach and sit behind a rock by the cliff and pick one up with my fingers and take a huge bite. It's delicious. They're coated in an amazing sticky barbeque sauce. My fingers get slightly greasy eating them, but it's edible food so I'm not complaining. I take a another bite and it's just as good as the first one. I only eat two though, I need to reserve them.

Then I head back up to the cornucopia to watch for the tributes staying there. I sit, hidden in a small bush, watching the entrance. I fall asleep at some point. It's a warm day and it's stuffy in the bush. When I wake its dusk. Soon the Capitol seal comes up followed by the picture of the girl from 9. I sit up and eat another chicken wing and sip some water. Someone darts into my view suddenly. They run to the cornucopia and start crawling under and ducking under the traps.

I crawl out of the bush and ready my spear to attack. Maybe I can get my revenge now. They killed Helena when she was defenceless, now I have to kill them. Helena's last words echo in my ear as I get to the cornucopia entrance.

"Don't go after them Hecate. Just win for me. Win and then live a good life. I'll see you again." She whispered.

"No." I said "Come on Helena, you'll be sponsored some medicine, just hang on." She smiled, and put her hand onto my cheek and stroked it.

"You're so handsome. I love you, remember that." She said, then closed her eyes. Her chest was still moving very slowly, I bent down and kissed her one last time as the canon went.

I have to get my revenge, Helena didn't deserve to die.

 **Deaths:**

 **11** **th** **: Lily (D9F) – Cholera from dirty water**


	22. Chapter 21

**First of all, I want to say a huge thank you to Taylor1103 for your lovely review. I'm so happy that you're loving my fic so much and you think I deserve more followers and reviews. I think you deserve more too on the 1** **st** **quarter quell story you're writing (guys you should all read it, it's amazing). I love it when I get reviews, so the way I found your fic was I started filtering hunger games fics with the amount of reviews they get. Then I straight away click last. I find so many authors that have hardly any reviews and they deserve way more so I always try to leave a review.**

 **Also, I've decided if I get 5 or more reviews on this chapter within 72 hours of uploading it, the next time I update I'll do a double update. Hope you enjoy, and at the end hit review if you want more updates.**

 **BTW, I've been forgetting to do disclaimers, but in case it wasn't obvious, I am not the amazing Suzanne Collins and I am only writing this for my own amusement and your pleasure.**

 **Chapter 21**

 **Day 6/ 7/8 morning**

 **Hank's POV (D3M)**

I am awoken in the night by the sound of a canon. It's dark, so I can't really see, but the temperature drops dramatically. I take my coat off and put it on the other way round so it reflects the heat. It's one of the few things I have left. The boxes with the electrical stuff in it just sunk straight down when the arena shifted into a sea with a load of islands, but I was carrying my taser and bow, so I still have some weapons at least. I pick my stuff up, if I don't find shelter out here in a few hours, I'll freeze. I'm already loosing feeling in my fingers and toes.

My feet suddenly go incredibly numb. Great. I've just walked into a lake or something. At least it's a water source though. Just then the moon comes out from behind the clouds, it shines down brightly. The arena's now a taiga biome. I'm right by the edge of a huge lake that leads up to a mountain that's littered with trees. I'll get shelter there.

I edge around the lake to the mountain so I can reach cover. I don't like being out in the open, I'm too exposed out here. I don't think anyone's very close. The lake is larger than it looks, so it takes me quite a while. I keep stumbling on in the freezing cold. Beep! Beep! Beep! The parachute lands in front of me and I pick it up. It probably used up the $50 I got in my sponsor pool at the start. I open the container and take out the note. I can hardly read it in the pale light, but I eventually make it out.

 _Keep going. People are starting to take notice of you now more people are dead. Hope these will keep you warm in the meantime._

 _~K_

I look inside the container. There's a thick pair of gloves and a folded up blanket. I pull the gloves on and carry on. I'm almost at the trees now. I walk for a couple minutes when I reach the tree line and then sit down, leaning against the rough tree trunk. I'm hungry and thirsty, but I don't want to risk the water until I can sterilise it, and I can't risk someone seeing the light from it, and I'm too tired to try to hunt now. I pull the blanket around me and drift off.

In the morning it's barely warmer than last night, so I don't bother taking the gloves off, but I fold up the blanket and put it back in the container. I pick up as many sticks as I can carry and start arranging them by the lake. Once I am done I start picking up some pine needles off the ground and arrange them around the pile of sticks. Then I start trying to light the fire. It takes a pretty long time because I'm not very good, but eventually I manage to start it. I pull the blanket out of the container and fill it up with water. I make a kind of platform above the fire and put the container on it to boil while I go hunting. It's freezing, so the water will be a while boiling. I just hope no one finds my fire. I have my most valuable stuff with me: my bow, taser and blanket. I have to take the gloves off while I'm hunting because I can't use a bow with them. I have to keep flexing my fingers to stop them from going numb.

I step quietly through the trees. Suddenly a twig snaps behind me. I whizz around fast as lightning with my arrow notched. A startled deer starts and walks behind a tree, out of sight. There's no one else, so it must have been the deer I heard. I cautiously follow it, taking care not to tread on any twigs that are lying on the ground. I duck behind a short tree as I reach it. I draw the string back and aim. I release the arrow and it hits a bit to the right of where I was aiming. It falls to the floor, withering slightly. I notch another arrow and put it out of its misery. I haul the deer onto my back, but so the blood doesn't leave a trail and head back to my fire. It's almost dying out and the water hasn't boiled. I build the fire up again and put the container over it. This time it works because I'm there to add more wood where necessary. I take the container off the fire and leave it to cool a little for a few minutes. I pick it up while it's still warm and slowly drink it. It doesn't taste particularly nice, I hate hot water, but I warm up a bit. Now comes the task of cutting the deer up.

I don't have anything to cut it up with really, so I try to make a makeshift dagger thing out of a thick stick. I sharpen the end with an arrow, it doesn't work very well, but I keep at it until it's sharp enough to chop the deer up. I skin it first, it's pretty disgusting, the fur is thick and blood soaked in places. I wash it and leave it to dry by my fire. Then I fill my container with water again and put it over the fire. I half watch it while I chop the meat up. When I'm done, I start to boil the bits of meat. It takes a long time because there's a lot of meat and it's a small container. I also keep having to add more water and wait for it to boil, but by evening all of its cooked and, apart from when the arena was a cornfield, it's the first time since I entered the arena that I go to sleep with a full stomach.

 **Vincent's POV (D6M)**

I wake up feeling like ice despite the shelter of my tent. I look around me. Someone must have died at some point last night because the arena's shifted. I wonder who. It's now freezing cold and I stand up and start walking around so feeling comes back into me. In the morning light I can see a large lake nearby, that's good, my water source is getting low.

I head towards it and fill my almost empty bottle up. I drop a purification tablet in it. Those tablets are probably the reason I'm still alive. I've only got 5 left though. Enough for 5 more days. After that I've got to figure out how I'm going to get safe water to drink for the rest of the games. I take the time to look around the arena while I'm waiting for the water to be safe to drink. There's several small mountains and lakes, the rest of the arena is all pine trees. The bottoms of most of the mountains are covered with trees to. At least the trees will provide cover for me so no one sees me in my tent.

At the other side of the lake I can see someone else. I don't want to go over and try to attack them in case they're a career. It'd be suicide. Instead, I start to sort through the stuff that's left in my packs. I somehow managed to grab 6 packs, a small popup tent, a sword and a dagger at the cornucopia. I couldn't carry anymore without it drastically slowing me down.

Two of the packs contained: small empty water bottles, some rope, a jumper, a couple of knife blades and a sleeping bag. I didn't really need two sleeping bags, but I kept the second one in case. I pull on the two jumpers now though, I can hardly feel my toes. Another of my bags contained a tonne of food. Two more had: medical supplies and full water bottles. The last one had: a coil of wire, matches, night vision goggles, water purification tablets and a syringe of red liquid. I smashed the syringe on Day 1, I didn't know what it did, and I couldn't risk injecting myself with it and being killed by it.

I pull a pack of instant noodles out. The technology at the Capitol is really cool. According to the Capitol, once I've added 50ml of cold water to it, it triggers a reaction in the can and heats it up so I can have a hot meal without risking being caught with a fire. I pour the required amount of water in once the water's safe and wait a few minutes for it to heat up. I watch across the lake at the over person as I do. They've gone off, but have left a fire still burning. I wonder why.

I shovel a forkful of noodles into my mouth. It's not got much flavour, but it sure does warm me up. Once I've finished them, I gather up my gear and head to the treeline. I go about 50meters into the trees and set my tent up. I sit inside it, just by the entrance and watch. I'm waiting to see if anything I can hunt is going past. I can kill it if it does.

It's a pretty uneventful day. I pack my tent up a little before dusk and head to the lake. The fire's just dying out and the person is heading off into the treeline. I make my way around the lake to follow them. I don't want to attack them, they may be stronger than me, but they may have some gear I can take without them noticing.

 **Bea's POV (D7F)**

Beep! Beep! Beep! I look up from my perch in the tree I've climbed up. I like this new arena. I have trees to climb. I'm in my element here. I reach out and catch the parachute. I wonder what it is, I have pretty much everything I need, my leg healed fine with the medicine I got before, I don't need anything except maybe a weapon, but they'll be really expensive at this stage. I open the container and read the note.

 _Bea_

 _You're doing great. Not many people are focused on you, but that means a mutt is less likely to go after you. You do have a bit of sponsor money coming in though. There's not enough to get you anything spectacular, just thought you'd want to know I haven't abandoned you though._

 _~L_

I look into the container, there is a pair of thin gloves. I turn them over. They have little bits of grippy metal bits. A slow smile comes across my face. These will make climbing so much easier now. I am just about to clamp the container shut, when I spot something beneath them. It's just a small nutrient bar. It's not much, but at this stage in the games, food is quite expensive. My food supply is getting quite small now though, despite not touching it for the two days when the arena was a cornfield. I pull on the gloves and gather my gear up. I jump down from the tree and find wander towards a tall tree with virtually no branches to use to climb it. I want to try out these gloves.

They turn out to be amazing. I can climb so much quicker now. That's when the idea pops into my head. With these gloves I'll be able to climb up to the top of the cornucopia without any issue. I grab my pack and start heading where I think the general direction of the cornucopia. I jog there because of the cold. I won't be able to climb quick enough if I can't feel my fingers or toes.

I don't reach it before dusk, so I climb up a tree to get some rest. I'll reach the cornucopia tomorrow. I watch the sky turn from a pale pink to an inky black and the Capitol seal comes up. There's only been one death today. I sit awake for a little while longer until I drift off until morning.

I wake as the sun rises in the horizon. I unwrap the nutrient bar I got yesterday and munch it down slowly before carrying on towards the Cornucopia. I soon reach it. I look around cautiously. There doesn't seem to be anyone here. I peer inside the Cornucopia, but there's nothing inside. Someone must've taken it all. I start climbing up the side. It's pretty steep, but my gloves help me a lot. I am hidden up here. No one can see me, and if there's a feast, I can grab some stuff and run off, before anyone notices I'm gone.

 **Thalia's POV (D11F)**

I duck into the Cornucopia, I need some more gear. I'm running low on water so if I don't go back soon I'll have to find a permanent water source. I don't want to do that until later on though. If I can get clean water from the cornucopia, I'll carry on risking it for as long as possible.

I start sorting through the stuff there. I can take more stuff without being noticed now because the boy from 1 will just assume he already used a lot of the gear up. I'm just about to take a full water bottle out of a pack when it hits me.

Agonising shoots down my back. I look around; the boy from 8 is standing there. He looks angry. Maybe he thought it was me who killed his girlfriend. I fall to the floor. My strength is failing. I don't have much time left. Even the most expensive medicine from the Capitol won't save me now.

I don't want to die. I'm scared. This isn't how it was supposed to end. It was supposed to end with me being a victor. I got the highest training score. I was dumb. I thought that would make me invincible. I thought I couldn't be killed. I guess everyone has to go in the end. I just don't want it to be me.

The images of the dead tributes blur through my mind. So much hate. So much anger. So much sadness. So much death. Someone needs to take the Capitol down. It won't be me though, because tonight my face will be in the sky. That's how my life will end. Just another dead tribute. One amongst hundreds, thousands, millions maybe. I won't even be remembered. And that's what scares me more than anything.

 **Deaths:**

 **14** **th** **: Thalia (D11F) – Spear to the back by D8M**


	23. Chapter 22

**Sorry guys, I didn't get 5 reviews so no double update. Thank you to cjborange and Taylor1003 who did review, and to answer your question Taylor1003, I haven't decided 100% who's going to win, but I have planned out pretty much all the other deaths but the last one. It's not definite though, so if I'm going to kill someone off and someone reviews that their favourite character is the person I'm going to kill off, I may change my mind. Once it's down to the final 2 I was gonna let you guys vote because I really have no idea because one is my favourite but the other is probably more likely to win so I just don't know.**

 **Updates will be down to just once a week because I have to spend my half-term revising for all my PPEs (mocks) which means less writing time. I hope you enjoy and please let me know what you think.**

 **Chapter 22**

 **Day 8**

 **Flynn's POV (D1M)**

My plan before going in the arena was to relax and rest by day and hunt by night, I've had to change this strategy now though. It's way too cold to hunt at night now, so I have to sleep at night just like everyone else.

I've been more careful now, since someone was killed in the cornucopia. I found the blood stain on the ground. I didn't find any other signs that someone had been there though, so whoever killed her must have got away. I've set up even more traps around the entrance to the cornucopia now though, it means it should be even more secure, no one should be getting in now.

I pack my gear up as the sun rises and am ready to start hunting in a matter of minutes. My pack only contains a few essentials. Some food, water basic first aid stuff and a few weapons.

Soon I find the remains of a fire. It looks like someone's been here fairly recently. I look around for any signs of where they've gone now, but there's nothing except an empty can labelled 'Lamb stew', it's right by the fire and doesn't give me any clue to where they might have gone.

I decide to head towards the trees, that's the most likely place they'll have gone. It provides shelter and food. It'll also be harder to find them in there. They could easily be three feet away hidden in the branches of a tall spiky tree and I would walk straight past them.

I brush past the first layer of trees and am soon enveloped in darkness, the light from the sun is obscured by the dark evergreen of the trees. I can still see pretty well, there's just a lot of shadows. I walk on through the trees, trying to pick up a trail for ages before I find any over sign they're nearby.

A little before midday I emerge from the over side of the trees. I'm by another lake now. It's a lot smaller than the first one and the edges are frozen over slightly. I can see a small spiral of smoke on the other side though. I head back into the trees and edge around to the other side of the lake, where the fire is. When I'm directly behind them, I take a throwing knife and aim. I swiftly throw it and hits mark.

"Argh!" The person screams as it enters their knee. Good. Now they can't run away. I pull my light sword out in front of me and run up to them. I can see them better now I'm closer, it's the girl from 2. She pulls the knife out and chucks it at me, I duck out of the way, but it just scrapes my arm. She'll pay for that. I might have given her an easy death if she hadn't fought back, she's lost that privilege now.

"Hello Elodie." I grin at her. "Not doing too well I see." She ignores me and starts trying to bandage up her knee. I bend down, keeping one eye on her, and dig up a small handful of the frozen soil.

"I hate you." She mutters, I walk closer and chuck the soil. She tries to shield her knee with her head, but it isn't very effective and a few flecks go in her knee. She howls in pain. "Psycho."

"What's wrong with that?" I'm offended if she thinks it's a bad thing. She ignores my question and tries to hold her sword up more threateningly. She's weak from her wound though, so I just flick it out of her hand. She spat at me.

"Do it then." I didn't think she'd give up that easily.

"Nah, I think I'll have some fun with you first. Give the audience a good show." Panic flickers across her eyes. "Is that a hint of fear I see?" I grin at her, pulling out a long curved dagger. I rip off her coat and shove her on the floor.

"Never." She spits in my face. I wipe it off. Disgusting little animal.

"You'll pay for that." I grin, and make my first cut. I swipe the dagger slowly and precisely across her stomach. I need it deep enough to cause pain, but not so deep she'll bleed out and die straight away. She winced as the dagger drew blood. I dig in slightly deeper.

"Argh!" She screamed.

"You're wasting your energy. No one's going to save you." I smile. This is going to be such fun. I drag the dagger along up to her ribs.

"Please." She begs.

"But I'm having so much fun." I grin at her, pulling the dagger out and picking up a club. I start smashing her legs with it. Her bones soon break and she's withering about on the floor in agony. She definitely won't be winning now. I think I'll do one last thing before I leave her to bleed out. I put the club away and take out a whip. I lash her face a couple of times with it before grabbing her gear. "Hope your death's painful, I'm sorry I won't be around to see it." I turn back to face her. Her face has several thin lines of blood dripping down them.

"I'll see you in hell." She moves her face slightly so she's looking straight up at the sky. I walk into the treeline and head back to the cornucopia. I've cut her up enough that there's no way she'll live, but I don't want to make it quick for her. She'll bleed out slowly this way.

I light a fire when I get back and warm up a beef stew and start shovelling it into my mouth when the canon goes. That must be hers.

 **Callum's POV (D5M)**

I start to climb up a tree and wait. I need some food soon but I don't really know how to hunt. Maybe if I just wait for something to pass me and I chuck my trident at it and kill it that way. I wait patiently, until finally a snow fox comes ambling past. I take my chance. My aim isn't amazing, but it hits its stomach. Blood wells up and I jump down and kill it swiftly. I strip it of its fur and start to strip as much meat off it as possible. Next I start a small fire to cook it. There are a couple of herbs on the ground near me that I recognise that will go well with it so I grind some of them up and mix it in with the meat. When it's done I sacrifice my spare jumper and keep the meat in that.

Around mid-afternoon a canon goes. I'm in the final eight. Oh. My. Goodness. I never dreamed I would make it this far. But I have. My chances of winning are a lot higher than when I came into the arena. I've been lucky so far, the game makers haven't tried to kill me yet. Some games they manipulate practically the whole games. They draw weaker tributes nearer to stronger ones and let the blood flow. Other times they hardly get involved at all. This must be one of those times. I guess the quell is interesting enough for them.

I wonder who it is that died. Hopefully it'll be one of the careers. That'll get a strong competitor out of the arena. I look around me. I can't see much. From what I can see, I'm sitting in a large dark cave. Great. I won't be able to see much until the arena changes. I just hope I don't bump into another tribute. I pick my stuff up and stand. Maybe I can find somewhere where it's easier to see. I stumble on in the dark. I almost get decapitated several times by stalactites and I trip up over stalagmites.

Eventually I reach a cave that has little specks of light in the ceiling. It's made out of solid rock still though, I guess they didn't want us to be in complete darkness. I have no awareness of time now I don't have the sun or moon to guide me, so I decide just to rest there. I take a couple of lumps of meat out and chew on them. I'm pleasantly surprised to find it doesn't actually taste that bad.

I wriggle into my sleeping bag and am just dozing off when the sound of the Capitol seal wakes me. I open my eyes and look up to see a picture of the girl from 2. At least it's a career that's gone down. There's only two left now. Hopefully they'll kill each other. I might just be able to kill anyone else, but definitely not them. Then the speakers come on with the sound of Idola's voice.

"Attention tributes, on behalf of Panem, I'd like to congratulate all of you on making the final 8, but remember there's still a long way to go to the finishing line yet though. The feast will be held at midday at the cornucopia. We are very aware you will have no idea when it is midday, so starting at 6am tomorrow, there will be an announcement at every hour reminding you how long you have until the feast. Many of you will be thinking you have enough food, but there won't just be food at the cornucopia. There will be weapons and equipment that may be the difference between life and death. There will also be a very special item there, the person who gets it, will be put at a very good advantage. I cannot tell you what it is, but it is worth the risk." I doubt it. "Happy hunger games and may the odds be ever in your favour." I'm not going to risk it. The 2 careers will almost certainly be there, I just can't risk it.

 **Elodie's POV (D2F)**

I wake up in the morning feeling cold, despite the hot embers from my fire still burning slightly. I sit and watch the sun rise while heating up a can of lamb stew. It's soon done and I gulp down the delicious chunks of lamb quickly. I need to start hunting for food now, I only have one more can of food left. I dump the empty can next to the fire and chuck some water from the lake onto the dying embers and head into the woods.

I put my double bladed sword away and take my bow out. I go along quietly so as not to disturb the prey. I soon spot a squirrel climbing nimbly up a tree and it starts nibbling a nut. I pull my bow up and aim. The squirrel falls from the tree, an arrow in its chest. I go over and yank the arrow out, wiping it clean on the ground and notching it once more. I put the squirrel in my pack and carry on. Soon I see a small bird about to take flight onto a tree. I shoot quickly and it falls to the ground. I pick it up. This should be enough prey for now. I head on through the trees until I reach another lake. I quickly start another fire and start to skin the squirrel and cook it over it. While it's cooking, I start to pluck the bird.

"Argh!" Pain prickles through my knee. I can't help but scream. I look down and I knife is embedded in my knee. I yank the knife out, wincing slightly and throw it in the general direction that it came from. I look closer, the boy from 1 is walking towards me. The serum's not working for some reason. Maybe the red liquid I injected myself with at the start of the games was the anti-serum.

"Hello Elodie." I glare at him. I'm going to kill him. Literally. "Not doing too well I see." He bends down and picks up some soil from the ground.

"I hate you." I say as he walks closer and chucks the soil. At the last minute I work out what he's about to do and pull my head down to protect my wound. Some still gets in though and the pain there intensifies. I can't help but shout in pain again. "Psycho." I add.

"What's wrong with that?" I hold my sword up. I have to let him think I'm weaker than I am. He'll underestimate me then. I don't have much strength though, my wound is hurting too much and he knocks it easily from my hand. I spit at him.

"Do it then." I've lost what little chance I had. I wish he'd just kill me quickly.

"Nah, I think I'll have some fun with you first. Give the audience a good show." He's such a psycho. What kind of person gets pleasure out of watching someone dying? "Is that a hint of fear I see?" He grins manically and pulls out a long curved dagger. He rips off my coat and shoves me to the ground roughly.

"Never." I spit in his face. I won't show weakness. I can't show weakness.

"You'll pay for that." He grins again and makes the first cut. He swipes it across my stomach, ripping the material from my shirt. It's not very deep, but a lot of blood still wells up. It hurts so bad. I can't help but scream once more.

"Argh!"

"You're wasting your energy. No one's going to save you." State the obvious why don't you. We're in an arena where only one person can come out alive and you're killing me, what are the odds that someone's going to save me? Less than zero. Once more he smiles, I really hope he doesn't win. He pulls the dagger up towards me ribs, a smooth curve of blood following the blade.

"Please." I beg, maybe if I grovel to him he'll make it quicker.

"But I'm having so much fun." I'm really starting to hate that grin of his. He pulls the dagger out. Maybe he'll just kill me now. No, he's picking up a club now. He brings it down on my legs. I don't have the strength to roll out of the way. My legs are in agony and soon start to crack. I roll on the floor in complete agony. I'll do anything to make the pain stop. He puts the club away finally, I wonder what torture device he'll use now. A whip. He lashes my face a few times before grabbing my packs. I think he's leaving my here to die. "Hope your death's painful, I'm sorry I won't be around to see it." He turns around to look at me once more. Why does his face have to be the last one I see?

"I'll see you in hell." I manage to say to him, before moving my head to look up at the clear blue sky to watch as I die. I hear him move off into the treeline. The pain numbs a little bit. I think it's the cold. That or I'm dying. Well I know that, but maybe now's my time.

Beep! Beep! Beep! Maybe not then. Surely no sponsor can save me now. The parachute lands by my head and I slowly undo it.

 _Elodie I'm sorry. There's nothing I can do but make it easier. We're sending you a load of useless stuff too, that way he won't get loads of sponsor money from your pool when you die. I figured you'd want that. Just inject yourself with this in your arm and the pain will go._

 _~T_

It flutters out of my hand and onto the floor, but it stays there. I pull out a syringe full of a clear liquid. It looks like morphine. I plunge the syringe into my arm. It doesn't take long for the drug to kick in. Bliss. I look at the other stuff in the container. There's just a load of pebbles. I guess that what she meant when she said 'Useless stuff', she knows me well though. At least the psycho won't get my sponsor money now.

As I lay there dying I read the note sitting next to me over and over. That's when I realise it. Elodie. Elo _die._ In District 2, there's a kind of myth about this guy called Elo. It was before the war. He was a guy who went around and gave to the poor. In the end he got shot. By a rich guy who didn't like what he was doing. I never really got the story until now. You always end up being hurt even if you did nothing wrong. Elodie. Elo dies. That's me. That's what I'm doing. The note flutters away and the drugs take me away. I close my eyes and don't open them again. Bliss. Total bliss at last.

 **Maximus' POV (D10M)**

I just wander. On and on. I haven't spoken to anyone in so long. I only have my own thoughts to keep my company. I think I'm going crazy. I can't stop seeing that person die. I'm a murderer and I don't even know who I murdered.

I see a bush with some berries on it that I recognise. I pick some and eat them as I walk. On and on. I wonder when this will end. This walking and walking. These games. This life. Will I even survive the next few minutes? The next few days. The next few weeks. Questions. Always questions. Floating around my head as I go on and on.

The canon goes at some point. The arena shifts. I can't see much in this new arena. Why are they trying to confuse us? I decide to rest. Maybe I can have some rest from the questions that way. I lean against the rocky wall I'm near. I can't be bothered to get my sleeping bag out. I'll just sleep like this.

I wake to see the face of the girl from District 2 looking down at me. Is she going to kill me? No. It's just a projection throughout the arena. I wonder how she died? Who killed her? I may never know. I probably will never know. I'm about to close my eyes again when I hear someone through the speakers.

"Attention tributes, on behalf of Panem, I'd like to congratulate all of you on making the final 8, but remember there's still a long way to go to the finishing line yet though. The feast will be held at midday at the cornucopia. We are very aware you will have no idea when it is midday, so starting at 6am tomorrow, there will be an announcement at every hour reminding you how long you have until the feast. Many of you will be thinking you have enough food, but there won't just be food at the cornucopia. There will be weapons and equipment that may be the difference between life and death. There will also be a very special item there, the person who gets it, will be put at a very good advantage. I cannot tell you what it is, but it is worth the risk." I need it. "Happy hunger games and may the odds be ever in your favour."

I have to go. There's no way I'll be able to win without it. At least I don't think I could. One more question I'll never know. I wonder what the special item will be. I'll probably never know that either. I'm not 100% sure of where the cornucopia is, so I get up and start wandering in where I think the general direction of it is. I keep bumping into rocks and stumbling over stalagmites but I eventually see the shiny metal from the tail of it in the darkness. I find I rock to sleep behind and curl up, wondering what the feast may hold.


	24. Chapter 23

**Finally** **done, thank you** **IncompetentlyIncineratingYou74, Cjborange, Iris and Taylor1103 for reviewing I'm glad you are all liking it. I tried it a chapter or 2 ago, but you guys failed, but I'll try it again, if I get 5 reviews on this chapter, you will get a double update next time. Next chapter will just be interviewing families. I hope I made the feast action packed enough and enjoy.**

 **Chapter 13**

 **The Feast (Day 9)**

 **Flynn's POV (D1M)**

I've prepared very carefully for this. This should be a good opportunity to A) Kill a tonne of other tributes and B) Get an advantage over the other tributes. I wonder what the special item is. I hope it's a really awesome weapon or something. That'd be so cool.

"1 hour until the feast." The speakers blare out. Urgh this going to be a long hour. Beep! Beep! Beep! I wonder what it is. I have pretty much everything I could want. Weapons, food, water, survival gear. The container inside is pretty big and when I open it I read the note.

 _Make sure you get the special item, it'll be a complete game changer. Here's a little something to help_

 _~D_

I chuck the note to the side and look underneath. There's a silvery material and when I pull it out, I see it is a chest piece designed to stop even bullets penetrating me. It'll make it a lot harder to be killed. I take my shirt off and pull the chest piece on and my shirt on top of that. It's pretty light.

The hour's up now and all the gear has appeared at the cornucopia. There's a big pack in the middle, surrounded by a load of other gear, it's clear though that it's the special item. I dash towards it, but someone jumps in my way. I slash my sword at them and we start to fight. We weave around the gear scattered on the ground, until I finally disarm them. I look at them. It's the girl from 4. She runs off quickly. As much as I want to pursue her, I can't leave the special item unguarded. I am about to run over to it, but someone has already got there and has grabbed it. I run after them, readying my sword in front of me. It's the girl from 7 who's got it. I have to get it back.

The arena goes black. I miss the stupid girl because of the arena change. I run in the direction she was heading when the arena changed. This new arena is really humid. It's horrible. I carry on, trying to see where she went through the jungle, but it's no use. I turn back and run back to the cornucopia, so I can still get some gear. I see a small tent on the floor near me so I pick it up and sling it up on my back and run towards another tribute. I slash at their chest, but they block me with their spear, but only just. I go in for a series of rapid attacks. He ducks and blocks quickly, but he's tiring quickly. I'm just about to knock the spear out of his hand when he falls into me. I see someone behind me staring in awe, his hand raised slightly. Then he legs it before I can shove the corpse off me while the arena changes.

By the time the arena's gone light again and I've pushed the corpse off me, the other person's legged it. I look around, items are sinking rapidly. That's when I feel the squelching by my feet as thick muddy water slosh around them as I sink. I quickly start moving. I pick up as many salvageable items as possible and climb up the cornucopia. I'll be safe here. I look around. There is no one left nearby. They've all run. I didn't even get one kill. Anger and rage floods through me.

 **Isla's POV (D4F)**

I'm going to try and keep out of the main fighting at the feast. I'll wait on the outskirts to see who gets the special item and chase after them. I don't need anything much, but that could be a game changer. Of course if I'm attacked or someone's just standing there, I'll kill them, but there's no need to get caught up in the fighting so I lose track of the special item.

I've got all my gear on me so I don't lose any. My trident's in my hand and on my back is m axe and sword. Attached to my belt are several throwing knives. My bow's tucked in the crook of my shoulder and a quiver full of arrows is poking out of my pack. Everything else I have is stuffed at the bottom of my pack.

In Anthony's games, there was also a feast. There was a single apple on offer and all five of the remaining tributes went to the feast. Anthony didn't need it, there were a couple of tributes who were on the verge of dying, and they tried to get it, but Anthony was quick. He took the apple and stamped it into the mud. Then he killed one of the starving tributes while the others all ran off. It was pretty cruel of him. I'm kinda glad he didn't win. Does that make me a bad person?

As soon as the stuff appears several people run towards the stuff. One person jumps off the cornucopia and grabs the special item. I'm about to run after them, when someone with a sword jumps in front of me. I quickly block them with my trident but they manage to twist it out of my grip. I know they'll be after the special item. As I predict they run off and I grab my trident again.

I hear someone behind me and I whirl around and stab them in the chest quickly before running after the person with the special item. The arena goes black, but I stumble on. Someone else is near me, but they head a different way. I carry on running after the special item. I need it.

I have to leave my trident because it is only slowing me down in this new arena. It's really humid and I have to use my sword to slash leaves and stuff out of my way. The person I'm following looks back and sees me, they look horrified and then run to a tree. I sprint towards them, but they've started climbing it. I pull my bow out and start shooting at them, but foliage covers them and my arrows just fall back to the ground. I start climbing up, but the trunk of the tree is smooth and I can't get a proper grip.

I start looking up at movement in the leaves and follow them. It's surprisingly easy and they'll have to come down sometime. I'll just be waiting for them when they do.

 **Hecate's POV (D8M)**

"1 hour until the feast." The speakers blast out. I walk into another cave. I need to find the cornucopia before the feast starts. I go around the corner, and finally see it. The Cornucopia. I haven't been back here since I killed the girl from 11. I don't know if it was her that killed Helena and I don't really care. I have to kill as many people today as possible. For Helena. To avenge her. She had only wanted to live a happy life with him. They weren't even given that.

I can see someone moving behind a nearby rock. I would kill them, but I want to be on top form for the feast. I can't let anything distract me. Most people will be going for the special item. Not me though, I'm going to kill as many people as I possibly can.

As I wait, I take the box of garlic breadsticks that Helena got from the cornucopia on the first day, and nibble them quietly. I'm not really hungry, it's to pass time more than anything. I can easily get some more food at the cornucopia.

Finally, the hour's up. Someone jumps down from the top of the cornucopia and grabs what is clearly the special item and runs off. A couple of people pursue whoever took it. I run out into the open and grab some stuff for my pack. I've deliberately made myself look weapon less so I look like a target. People will attack thinking I'll be an easy kill. They'll be dead before they realise their mistake.

Someone runs to the other side of the cornucopia and starts grabbing stuff. The arena goes dark. I presume someone's just been killed. I run towards the other person, using the darkness to my advantage. When the arena is light again, I can see we're in a jungle. Just before I reach them, they pull out a metal thing and press a button. A beam of light appears at the end and I roll out of the way. I don't know how they've made it, but it turns the tree it hits black, so it must be pretty powerful.

I know I can't defeat them. There's not much point trying. It will only get me killed. I'll have to wait until I get better gear. I can't die, I have to make sure Helena is avenged fully.

I turn around and run to get some more gear when someone slashes at my chest. As quick as lightning a pull my spear out and block them. We fight for a while and then agonising pain shoots through my back. I fall onto the person I'm fighting. Then Helena takes me so we can be together forever.

 **Hank's POV (D3M)**

It's probably a really bad idea to go to the feast. Correction: it is a really bad idea to go to the feast. One that could cost me my life. I need the gear really badly though, and I have no idea how much sponsor money I have, so I can't depend on that. I'm just going to dash in, grab a few useful items and run off again. Hopefully everyone will be too distracted by the special item to bother about me.

There's no way I'm going for the special item. It's not worth it. I just hope whatever it is, can be stopped by my taser. If it can't, my odds of winning will be even lower. I have made it to the final eight though. My odds of winning now are definitely a lot higher than at the start of the games.

I sit in waiting. I've been waiting for about three hours. I found a good place to hide and wait.

Beep! Beep! Beep! I look up. I grab the parachute quickly, so it stops beeping. What am I being sponsored? Is it to warn me against going to the feast. I open the container and read the note sitting on the top.

 _Hank,_

 _Be careful, I'm not telling you not to go, just don't do anything stupid or get big-headed because you have that taser. Only use it to defend yourself. You're doing great, they're all rooting for you back home. I'll see you soon_

 _~K_

I remove the note and look beneath it. There's a tiny bottle with clear liquid inside. I read the label on the outside. It's a poison that kills someone within 30 seconds of getting into the blood stream. I unscrew it and dip all my arrows in it. I put them back in my quiver. Now even if I don't hit a vital organ, they'll still die.

Finally the feast begins. Someone was hiding on top of the cornucopia and they jump off and grab the special item. A couple of people go after them. I don't want to come out yet. I bet there are still more people waiting.

Sure enough someone soon comes out and starts to pick items up off the floor. They look unarmed, but I'm not going to attack them. They could easily be hiding a weapon. Now's my chance. I dash towards a few items near to me. The arena goes dark as I grab a knife and put it in my belt. When the arena's shifted I can see someone running at me. I pull my taser out and try to shoot them with it. They dodge and it hits one of the trees that appeared in the arena change. Once they've seen my taser, they back off. I grab a large bottle of water and some food and hastily put them in my pack.

I'm just about to run off when I see two people fighting. I look around. There's no one near me. I quickly notch an arrow and shoot at the one of the people fighting's back.

I quickly run before the person they were fighting comes and attacks me as the arena changes. I just hope they don't pursue me.

 **Maximus' POV (D10M)**

I need to get this special item. If I don't, I have no hope. I don't think I have much hope now anyway. I can't think straight. The arena is messing with my head. I'm lonely, I haven't spoken to anyone in over a week. I'm not sure exactly how long I've been in here for. It could have been weeks for all I know. I lost track after a week. I don't think it's been two weeks, but the days feel long and the nights feel longer so days in here might be longer than normal. I don't know. All I know is that if I am to stand any chance of winning, I need that special item.

I have a feeling the game makers are planning on at least one death. I'm just trying to make sure it's not me.

I have my mace at the ready to defend myself getting the special item. I know I have almost no chance, but when your odds are as low as mine, you don't really have much choice. I don't want to kill. The death of the person I killed on day one still plays through my head continuously. I wonder who they were. Did I know them? Were they a career, an innocent 12 year old? I'll probably never know.

There are so many unanswered questions. Who has killed who? How many deaths have been from natural causes? So many questions left unanswered. I'm determined to stay alive to have them answered though.

As soon as the stuff appears, the special item is gone. Someone dashed in straight away and took it. I run in. I need that item. Two other people are pursuing them too. One disarms the other and runs on. I bring my mace up to kill the disarmed one, but they've already picked their trident back up and swing it around. All I see is the three long prongs entering my chest before everything goes black.

 **Bea's POV (D7F)**

I'm going to go for the special item. If I my plan goes well I should be able to get out alive. If I don't go for it, a career is likely to get it and my odds will slip down even more. Odds. The games is just a bunch of statistics. Numbers. Percentages on who's going to die and who's not.

As soon as the special item appears, I'm going to jump down and grab it. Then I'll run. I'll have to be quick, but no one will be expecting someone to jump right off the cornucopia. I'll take them by surprise so they'll be too shocked to chase me, earning me a few valuable seconds. I can see three or four other tributes have turned up. The two remaining careers are both here, I'd be more surprised if they weren't though, there's the boy from 3 I think and I'm not sure what district the other boy is from. There may be more that I can't see though. I pull the knife out that I got yesterday once the District 1 boy went out hunting for tributes. There were traps all around the front of the cornucopia, but I slipped under the wires and took a small knife that was near the front. I didn't take anything else. I didn't dare.

All the items suddenly appear and I leap down quickly and take the medium sized pack that's obviously the special item because it has 'SPECIAL' written on it in bold letters. I sprint to the other side of the cave, trying to get lost in the shadows. I can hear people running behind me not far off. Then the arena goes dark. Someone's died.

When it's light again I'm in a jungle. There are trees everywhere. Good. I'm in my domain here. There's still at least one person behind me and when I can hear them getting closer and closer, I run to a tree with few branches and quickly start to climb. They try to come up afterwards but can't make it. I start going from tree to tree. They're pretty close together so it's easy. I can still see the person who was pursuing me. The girl from 4. She's still tracking me from the ground, watching where the leaves move.

The arena goes dark and shifts again. I hope I have a soft landing. I moment later I'm falling. I swing my arms around wildly, and they catch on something. I cling on and look up. By sheer luck, there's a small tree and I'm clinging onto one of its branches. I look down, there's a swamp below me. The girl from 4 is standing on a small patch of muddy grass. I pull myself up as she starts to throw knives at me. I duck behind a branch so I'm hidden and safe.

I made it. I wonder what the special item is. I unzip the bag and look inside.

 **Deaths:**

 **13** **th** **: Maximus (D10M) – Stabbed by D4F**

 **12** **th** **: Hecate (D8M) – Arrow to the back by D3M**

 **Ooooo. What's the special item, if you guess right in the reviews, I will tell you who I am planning on having in the final two, so start thinking.**


	25. Chapter 24

**Well I've got 6 reviews since the last chapter, but 2 people reviewed twice so does that technically count as 4 ? IDK. I'm gonna be a nice person and count it as 5+ reviews though. I would love to do it again for next week's update, but I don't have time anymore. I have two weeks of exams starting in a week so I have to revise and I've got like 4 other fics that I'm writing at the same time. IDEK why I decided to write so many at the same time. Oh well. Guys if you like SYOTs please check out my fic 'The Capitol Games' I uploaded it yesterday and from when I've been proof reading it, I'm pretty sure it's way better written than this one. I hope you enjoy, and please let me know what you think.**

 **Chapter** **24**

 **Idola Kartis' POV**

 **District 1**

Rat-a-tat-tat! I knock on the door of the address I have been given for Flynn, the District 1 male tribute. We're down to the final 6 so I've been sent to each district to interview the families of the tributes. It's a tiring and tedious job, but interviewing pays well and the whole of Panem knows my face so I'm always allowed to queue jump when I'm at a café and want a coffee. The tediousness of my job is worth it.

"Come in." A bony woman opens the door. "I expect you're here for the interview." I nod. "I would offer you some tea, but we have none in, sorry." She says, leading me to the living room.

"Oh, I bought some teabags with me. Not many families stock them and I can't survive without several cups a day." I say. I learnt the hard way about bringing teabags with me to the family interviews.

"Oh wonderful." She smiles "I'll go and heat the water up, you make yourselves at home." She says and I dig the box of them out of my bag and give them to her. She bustles out leaving me and the four people that make up the camera and makeup crew in the small grubby room. She comes back a few minutes later with cups of black tea. "I can get you milk if you want."

"Yes please." One of the camera men grunts while setting up his tripod. I start consulting my list of friends and family to try to interview. She comes back again with a small jug of milk.

"I've got down here that his best friend is called Harvey, is that correct?" I ask.

"Yes, will you want to interview him?" She replies.

"Yes."

"I'll go and send Sally, Flynn's sister out to get him now for you." She goes out and comes back.

"Your husband is dead, is that correct?" I say looking at the information. She nods. "Okay, we'll get straight on with it. Cameras rolling please." I say and they begin. "I'm here in District 1 with Flynn Fali's mum and I will also shortly be joined by his best friend Harvey to see how they feel about Flynn's chances in the games. So," I turn to face his mum. "How do you feel about your son volunteering for the games."

"I couldn't be prouder." She smiles. "He's wanted to do this for so long. It's all he's ever wanted to do, I just can't quite believe that my little boy is finally fulfilling his dreams." She's the typical career parent.

"He's certainly grown up into a strong fighter." I reply. "He's definitely a hot favourite to win. How do you think the special item will affect the games?"

"I don't really think it will now a weaker tribute has it. They will be completely dependent on it if they get into a fight. I don't think Flynn really has a lot to worry about." A tall boy pops his head around the door.

"Harvey?" I ask, signalling with my hand for the cameras to stop rolling. He nods. "We're just about done here, we only need a couple of questions from both of you. Is it okay if we stay in here?"

"Of course, I'll be in the kitchen if you need anything." I gulp the rest of my tea down quickly before we start filming again. "So Harvey, how long have you known Flynn?"

"I don't know. Most of my life. Probably eight or nine years. We met at school and we got on well so we started to hang out more and became really good friends."

"How did you feel when Flynn volunteered?"

"I was happy for him, but I was still slightly annoyed that it wasn't me volunteering."

"Do you think he can win the games?" I ask.

"Yes, easily. He's the best person in the arena, no one would be able to kill him."

"Okay, thank you for speaking to me." I turn to face the camera directly. "So Flynn's family are very confident about his prospects in the games, but we'll have to see what everyone else is saying."

"Cut." The camera light goes off. "Okay, it's a wrap, District 3 now. Let's get to the hovercraft." One of the cameramen say. I stand up and grab my clipboard and we head out to where our hovercraft is waiting.

"Strap in. There's slight turbulence." The pilot says and I do and start to read the notes on Hank.

 **District 3**

The door opens before I even knock.

"Do come in." A bony woman says. "I expect you'll want to interview us." I nod. She seems like she'll be quick and won't waster our time. Good, I want to finish the interviews as quickly as possible. She leads us through to the kitchen. "Is here okay?"

"Yes, is Hank's younger brother in?" I ask, we need to interview him too.

"Yes," She says "Xavier, come down here now." She yells. A smallish boy of about 13 comes into the room.

"What?" He says grumpily, why are they so rude here in the districts?

"Idola Kartis, you know, from the Capitol is here to do the interviews." His mum says.

"And?" So rude. They really need to learn some manners.

"She wants to interview you." He sighs grumpily, but sits down in front of the camera.

"I'll get it over with then." He says.

"Action." The cameraman says.

"So, Xavier, we've seen your brother Hank use excellent knowledge of electronics already in the games," I begin. "How do you think he knows how to do it?"

"I dunno." He says. So useful. "He's always been good at stuff like that. He might have known it from working at his factory." He added.

"What job did he have at the factory?" I ask him."

"I think it was assembling parts to electronics. TVs and stuff." He says. "He never really talked about it."

"Do you think now the feast is over and Hank has more gear, he could win the games?"

"He could always win the games." Xavier glares at me annoyed. "His chances are just a lot higher now."

"Cut."

"Can we interview you now?" I turn to the mother.

"Yes, of course." She says, as Xavier sloped off upstairs again and she takes his seat.

"When your son was reaped, how did it feel, for you?"

"Like my world was crashing down around me." She stares at me. "I had worked so hard to try and make sure he didn't have to take tesserae, but he still had to."

"Do you feel guilty about it?" I ask.

"Yes, every day, every time there's another death, I just hope that it won't be his."

"Cut."

"That was perfect, thank you." I say standing up, and she leads us all out of the house.

 **District 4**

Isla doesn't seem to have any close friends. Her only sibling died in last year's games. We only have her parents to interview. Bang! Bang! Bang! I rap my knuckle on the front door. A man opens it this time.

"Hello, Idola Kartis here, we're here to interview you and your wife about Isla." He sighs as at Isla's name but lets us in.

"I'll just get my wife, set up through there." He pointed to a room that has a small sofa, a table and a TV.

"Are you okay just to go straight into it?" I ask when he comes into the room with his wife. They nod.

"Action." I smile at the two sitting opposite me.

"So, it feels pretty familiar sitting on this sofa after last year." I smile. "Do you think Anthony volunteering and dying is what made Isla volunteer?"

"Absolutely." Her mum says. "She always liked to be the centre of attention and seemed a lot happier after Anthony died."

"I agree. She always wanted to prove that she was better than him, when really it was the other way around." Her dad agrees.

"Isla at the moment is the favourite in the Capitol to win, do you agree with them?"

"No way." Her dad says immediately. "She was nowhere near ready to go into the games when she volunteered, she just wanted the attention."

"I'm amazed she got this far. I was expecting to be gone by the bloodbath. My bet's on the boy from 1, Flynn, I think he's called." I wonder what Isla did to make her parents hater her so much.

"I've just come from talking to Flynn's mum and best friend, they seem to think the special item will make no difference in these games, do you agree?"

"Yes," The mum says. "The girl who got it, got it out of pure chance, it's amazing that she hasn't been killed yet either. The boy from 1'll kill her and get rid of the special item, that's for sure."

 **District 5**

I'm soon back on the hovercraft, reading through the notes on Callum.

 _No friends. Doesn't live with parents – Taylor and Dan Darlo. 43 Fort Corner._

I sigh. It takes quite a bit of time when they aren't really close to anyone. And I want to get out of District 5 as quickly as possible. It's a dump.

"Hi, I'm Idola Kartis." I smile as the door opens. I have to keep up this pretence that I love doing this job.

"I know who you are." The man says grumpily to me.

"I was wondering if you'd do a quick interview for me about your son Callum." I say. The door slams in my face. They have no manners here in 5. Or any of the districts for that.

"What now?" One of the camera crew says.

"I'll speak to Grayson." I say, turning away and tapping my earpiece.

"Idola? Is everything running smoothly with the interviews, we need them soon so we can start letting them kill each other." Grayson picks up immediately.

"There's been a slight hitch in 5." I say. "We only have the address of the parents, he doesn't have any friends, and they won't be interviewed.

"We'll just have to skip him then. Just go straight onto 6, we'll interview his mentor over here so we have something to show for him." Grayson says.

"Okay, thanks." I turn back and end the call on the earpiece. "They're going to interview his mentor, we have to go onto 6 now." They follow me back to the hovercraft and we strap in.

 **District 6**

We have the address of his parents and brother, Brennan. I knock on the door of the tumbledown shack. It takes several minutes for someone to come to the door. It must be Vincent's brother. He's small and skinny. He looks about 9, but according to the notes he's 12.

"Yes miss?" He asks. At least he's been taught some manners.

"I was wondering if I could interview you and your parents about your brother Vincent." I say.

"I'm not sure that would be a good idea Miss." He says. "My parents don't like to talk about him anymore. They're sure he's a goner. I can give you directions to one of his mates though, they may be willing to do it."

"Thank you, if you take us there yourself I can give you $20." I say, bringing out the crisp note. In the Capitol $20 isn't a lot, but out here in the districts, it can buy a family of four the whole days' worth of meals.

"Thank you Miss." He says, closing the door behind him. "I'll show you." He leads us through the narrow winding streets to yet another tumbledown shack. "Here's where his best mate lives."

"Here you go." I give him the note and flashes me a smile and darts off. I knock on the door but there's no reply.

"How long is this going to take?" One of the camera men asks. I press a button on my earpiece.

"Hello? Grayson, I need some more information on Vincent's friends." I listen a minute. "Yes I know, the family won't talk and we were led to a friend's house but there's no one here."

"I'll send some information across now." He says and I tap on the tablet in my pocket as it pings the information across.

"I've got another address." I say, turning and we start to walk. "Hello, I was wondering if you would do us an interview on Vincent?" I ask as a boy comes to the door. And finally, we have someone willing.

"Okay." He says.

I check my clipboard for the information on Bea, but there is none. I call Grayson for the third time that day.

"Again?" He sounds really irritated.

"Sorry," I say. "But there's no information on the girl from 7."

"Oh yes, I meant to tell you, Bea's homeless and we don't have information on any family or friends so we're just going to do a mentor interview." He says. Finally, I can fly back to the Capitol, and I'll be in time for dinner.


	26. Chapter 25

**As promised, the second update. But you were all wrong about the special item. Incompetentlyincineratingyou74 yours did make me laugh though. A tank? Seriously. Anyways, sorry this chapter and the last one aren't particularly long, this one's just a filler so you know what's going on with each tribute after the feast, next chapter might have a death in it, so if you don't want your favourite to die, tell me your favourite in the reviews along with a reason and I may consider not killing them off… for now. Hehehe. I love destroying people's souls by killing people off in the saddest ways possible. In fics I mean. I'm not a mass murderer, or am I? Dun dun dun. Anyway, enjoy and please lemme know what you think.**

 **Chapter 25**

 **Hank's POV (D3M)**

 **Day 10/ Day 11 morning**

I wake up wet this morning. I kept running yesterday, I just ran until nightfall when the fallen came up. The boy from 8 and the boy from 10 were up there today. I killed one of them. I wonder who. After the sky went dark again I collapsed and slept. I didn't have another option, I was exhausted and it's very open out here apart from a few trees dotted around. The arena's basically a huge marsh .

When I wake up I start looking through the stuff I got at the feast. I only managed to get some food, water and a knife, but there isn't any food in this arena, so it was worth it. I take a small sip of water and open and eat three cheese biscuits. There isn't much to do. I expect after the feast yesterday, the game makers will leave us alone for a day or two now.

I put my pack back on and start walking again. I want to put as much distance as possible between me and the cornucopia. I don't want to stumble across anyone. Especially not a career, I know I have my taser, but I would still prefer not to get into a fight. I don't want to chance it. My taser probably isn't the most reliable and I already used it yesterday. My bow and arrows won't be much use in close up combat either.

As I walk I try to work out who is still alive. There's the girl from 4, the boy from 6, the girl from 7 and the boy from 5. I can't remember the last person though and it's really bugging me. Oh well, maybe I'll remember it later.

 **Vincent's POV (D6M)**

I'm glad I didn't go to the feast yesterday. Two people died. I'm two steps closer to going home. I have 1 in 6 chance now. Well, it's slightly less than that actually because there's still 2 careers left. My chances are definitely a lot better than at the start of the games though.

I really wanted to go to the feast, but it just wasn't worth the risk. I wonder who got the special item. I really hope it's not a career. If it's not a career who has it, my chances will go up, but I have absolutely no idea who has it. Knowing my luck, it probably will be a career who has it though.

I really hate this arena. It's a giant marsh with the occasional bit of mud with a tree. There's only really frogs to kill for food, and believe me, they taste rank. They're pretty hard to kill too.

I'm constantly wet and I can't even shelter in my tent because it was right in the middle of a huge bit of marsh so by the time I grabbed it so it didn't sink and swam to the nearest bit of grass, it was soaking wet. Everything in it was too, which means I now have no way of getting fresh water as my last water purification tablet is coated in marsh gunk. It would have only lasted me a day or two more though anyway. At least it didn't get into the little water I have left.

My night vision googles still work, but I'm not sure my matches will. All my medical supplies have been trashed too. Basically, I need sponsors. I can't get sponsors though unless I get people to like me and I can't do that unless they see that I am good at fighting and stuff, but I'm not really, I would have gone to the feast otherwise. My weapons are still in good condition though, if that's supposed to be any consolation to me. It doesn't really feel like it though.

I still have the $50 sponsor money from the start, but that would probably buy me a grape at this point. Oh well.

 **Flynn's POV (D1M)**

Things have been pretty boring today. I geared up as usual this morning and set out hunting for tributes. I've had no luck, I guess the Capitol are still excited about the feast yesterday so the game makers aren't driving us together. I got some pretty good gear yesterday though. I already had good gear, it was better than anyone else at the feast, but they put even better stuff out than at the bloodbath.

I now have a hand grenade. I've never seen a games where they've put on of those in the arena. I'm not sure whether the game makers were trying to trick us into thinking that the pack was the special item and it was actually this or not, but if this isn't the special item, then the girl from 7 who managed to escape with it now has a huge advantage, it's just a shame it will get blown up with along with the 7 girl. Bea I think her name is. I don't know how she's gone under the radar for so long. She's just been lucky I suppose. She won't be able to escape when I get hold of her though.

I have a good medical supply too now. There's a lot more stuff than the painkillers and bandages we had before. I've got dehydration tablets that'll make my water supplies go a long way and even tablets that help you sleep better without doping you up. I'll be prepared for when I find my next victim.

I've been getting really bored since I killed the girl from 2. I didn't even manage to kill anyone at the bloodbath. I would have if that idiotic boy from 3 hadn't shot the person I was fighting. When I hunt him down and kill him, I'm going to torture him for hours. How dare he take my kill away from me?

 **Abbi's POV (D4F's Mentor)**

I got no sleep last night. I've been up here, watching the screen with Isla on. She needs to stop trying to get the special item, sure it was worth the risk of going to the feast, but she needs to accept that she hasn't got it. Soon that girl, Bea or whatever her name is, will figure out how to use it and Isla will be killed.

She's done pretty well so far and she's got a massive sponsor pool saved up. I'm saving it though. There's an item that you can get this year that basically means the special item cannot harm you in any way, shape or form. She just needs another couple of hundred dollars and she can have it.

"Abbi, we have another sponsor wanting to speak to you." Boo, the District 4 escort says.

"Okay, show them to my office." I sigh, meetings with the sponsors are tedious, but they could save Isla's life so I have to sit through them. "Can you get someone to make me a coffee and watch Isla for me and send any updates while I'm in the meeting?"

"Of course. If anything happens, you'll be the first person I'll tell." Boo says squeakily. I rush off to my office and a tall woman with golden sparkly hair and angel wing alterations comes in. The wings are long and feathery. They look pretty weird, but then that is Capitol fashion. An avox follows her in and hands me a lukewarm cup of coffee.

"Would you like a cup of coffee?" I ask her.

"No thank you." She doesn't look happy with me.

"So, why did you set up this meeting?" I ask taking a gulp of coffee.

"I wanted to know why you are not spending any of the money I've been sponsoring Isla. I've sponsored almost $5,000 since the start of the games and nothing. No sponsors not even a cracker, why?"

"Let me go and get the sponsor catalogue." I say getting off my chair and walking to a bookshelf. I heave off a heavy book. "And I'll show you why."

"You'd better have a good excuse." She said. "Or I may consider withdrawing my sponsorship." Oh no. It's one of these really pushy ones.

"Now, as a sponsor, you know that whatever I tell you in here, stays in here. We don't want there to be any leaks about stuff that's going to happen in the games, however small." She nods.

"Just hurry up." I put the book down on the table in between us.

"As mentors, we were told that when it got to the final 8 tributes a feast would be held with a special item. We were also told what this special item was, but we weren't allowed to do anything about it until after the feast, but we were told that there was a way to keep our tributes safe if they didn't get the special item."

"And let me guess it involved not using any sponsor money at all." She huffs.

"Not exactly. There's an item," Here I flick to the right page and point at it "that stops the special item having any effect at all on the tribute who uses it, but it's the most expensive item in the whole sponsor catalogue." I say, looking up at her. "So I decided right at the start to not use any of her sponsorship money so if she didn't get the item, she would at least be protected by it."

"And if she had got the special item?" The sponsor says. "Where would the money have gone then." I flick to another page with a hand grenade on. There's already a tribute with one. They got it at the feast.

"I would have sponsored her a couple of them to use just in case." I say.

"Why haven't you sponsored her it already?" She asks. Leave me alone woman. Seriously. It's ridiculously expensive so I haven't got quite enough.

"We're just a couple of hundred dollars away from it." I say. "I'm having a meeting with another potential sponsor later on, where I hope I will be able to secure those last $200." The sponsor takes a chequebook out of their bag and writes something on one page tears it out and chucks it at me."

"Hurry up and buy it." She says then walks out. I grab it and run to check it into the sponsor pool and start typing up the message to Isla.

"She's finally left the girl from 7 and has started to walk in the direction of the cornucopia." Boo tells me when I get back. Good.

 **Callum's POV (D5M)**

Darkness falls in the arena; it's been an uneventful day. No deaths, it means there probably will be tomorrow though. I just hope they don't plan on me dying. That'd be a bummer. Especially considering I'm planning on winning these games. I have no idea how, I can't fight to save my life and I have almost no food or water left. Just determination. Determination and hope. If I'm determined enough, I might just make it through. Maybe. Probably not though.

I climb up one of the few trees and curl up and fall asleep, but I'm woken at about midnight by a ginormous croaking noise.

"What the-?" I mutter to myself as I look across the arena. Hopping across the marsh is a huge black and yellow frog. And it's coming straight for me. I grab my pack and start to run, but I lose ground quickly. It's way faster than me. I have no option but to fight.

I pull my trident out of my pack and start charging towards it. I know the weak point on most animals. If it can't see, it can't kill me. I hope not anyway. Though knowing the game makers it probably has super smell and hearing. When it is only about 10meters away from me I shove my trident into the floor. If this works I'll look really cool, if not. Well I'll be dead, but it's my only option I have to try.

The wet muddy grass absorbs the trident easily and when the frog is 5meters away I run up to the trident and launch off it, pulling it up as I go. The trident gives me just enough momentum. I haven't one yet though. I'm only sitting on its head and it's bouncing around a lot to get me off. Something pink and slivery makes its way towards me from between the two eyes. It must be the tongue; it's probably laced with poison. I jab at it with my trident and it slivers back down. I slowly make my way to its huge left eye. I quickly plunge my spear down into the huge black abyss and the frog croaks angrily. I yank it out and rush and do the same to the other eye. It's gone completely mental; hopping all over the place. I eventually fall off and rush in front of it and dodge in and out, jabbing it repeatedly.

After what seems like an age, it finally falls down, dead. I cut it into small bits to make sure the game makers can't bring it back to life and rush off back to my tree to resume sleeping. I've survived another day, and I've killed a mutt, maybe I do have a chance in these games.

 **Bea's POV (D7F)**

I spend the day trying to figure out what the special item actually does. Inside the pack was just a large blue speckled egg. When I say large though, I mean large; it's bigger than my head. It didn't really do much, but I couldn't open it, I tried many times with my knife. At about midday a crack finally appeared in it and by nightfall a tiny wolf like creature had crawled out. I don't think it'll be much help unless it grows pretty big pretty soon, but it curls up on my shoulder when I go to sleep.

I wake up early the next day, and my little pet thingy is gone. Great. I risked my life getting an egg that contained the most useless creature in all existence and then it runs away from me. I sit and take a small sip of water as I decide what to do next when I see a wolf running towards my tree, I grab my knife and ready myself to fight, when it whines and starts rolling around in the mud. Oh. My. Gosh. It must be the thing out of the egg. I climb from the tree and start walking it follows. This is pretty cool, I basically have a pet mutt that does whatever I tell it.

I am just about to stop for a rest because I'm tired and I don't really have anywhere I need to go, when it suddenly morphs into a giant eagle and lets me sit on its back while it flies in whatever direction I'm thinking of. It doesn't fly any higher than a small house, but it's pretty cool all the same. My odds in the game just keep increasing. I definitely have a good chance of winning these games.


	27. Chapter 26

**I'm so sorry, it's terrible and short I know, but I don't have much spare time at the moment so updates may be less regular for a few weeks until my exams are over, but I will carry on writing this fic, even if I take a break for a while. Oh and Cjborange, it's not bad you like a career, remember Finnick was a career.**

 **I was wondering what side you guys are on. Gale or Peeta? Is it just me that is neither? I read Mockingjay and I'm like AWWWWW Finnick and Katniss are so cute? I just love watching people argue about Gale or Peeta and I'm there like Finnick! Is this just me?**

 **Anyway, please let me know what you think of this chapter.**

 **Chapter 26**

 **Isla's POV (D4F)**

 **Day 11/Day 12 morning**

I reach the cornucopia about midday. I can't see anyone there, but I am still cautious as I go into the horn, looking for gear to steal, well not really steal, more… take off from the hands of whom it belongs. Okay, basically steal. But there are no rules here, so it doesn't really matter. I'll make the cornucopia my base. If there's someone else that stays here, I'll kill them when they get back.

Inside the cornucopia is a huge range of gear. I sort through the stuff and put the stuff I need in case I need to suddenly run somewhere in an emergency pack and climb up to the top of the cornucopia to relax and eat a meal. It takes me a while because the metal is hot and slippery, but I manage it eventually and I sit, my legs hanging over the edge while sipping some juice.

It feels pretty weird to be drinking juice in the arena. Usually in the arena you get water or nothing but there were several large cartoons of tropical fruit juice in thee cornucopia and I'm getting pretty fed up of water. I'll save the rest of it though, in case I'm in a landscape where there's no fresh water.

Just as it's turning to dusk I see someone walking towards me and the cornucopia. I pick my bow up and pull an arrow out of my quiver and notch it. I check the direction of the win and aim accordingly. Then I pull the bow back so it touches my nose. I release, but a sudden gust of wind knocks it slightly off course, instead of hitting their chest, it embeds in their arm.

They howl in pain and pull it out before running off. I don't bother chasing them. The wound will get infected and kill them in a couple of days. The Capitol seal comes up. There have been no deaths today.

 **Vincent's POV (D6M)**

Today was pretty uneventful. I just wandered around. I tried to find food, but there seems to be nothing here. The only thing that grows is wet grass and occasional trees. That's it. No one died today. The audience will be starting to get bored now, so the game makers might try to drive us together tomorrow. I really hope they don't try to get me into a fight though. Odds are, I'll die.

I tie myself to the branch of a tree and try to sleep, my stomach grumbling hungrily. I am woken with a jolt in the night though. I look down quickly, but it's too dark to see. There's another jolt. I grab my night vision goggles and shove them on. Great, there's a giant tiger mutt leaping at the tree I'm in. I quickly use my dagger to cut myself loose from the tree.

I fall to the ground, landing awkwardly on top of my pack. I get my sword out and try to jab it at the mutt, but it's too quick and dodges out of the way. It leaps towards me, it's claws unsheathed. Oh no. This is it. I'm going to die. I'm actually going to die. This can't be happening. I duck instinctively, and by some miracle, it just flies over my head. My heart is pounding so loudly that I'm surprised no one else in the arena has heard me and has come to kill me.

I draw my sword out in front of me again and charge before to can attack again. I only succeed in chopping its tail off, but it's better than nothing. Then it snarls at me as it turns around, showing me its ginormous jaw and its deadly teeth. It charges again, this time not jumping. I step to the side, but one of its long teeth just scrapes my arm, ripping away some of my shirt. Pain sears through my arm. I have to ignore the blood dripping off it if I'm going to survive though.

I dodge around to face it again, slowly walking backwards. I almost jump out of my skin when I feel something touching my back. Then I realise I've just backed into the tree. The tiger prowls slowly closer and closer to me. I can feel my feet starting to sink into the thick muddy marsh, but I'm too scared to move. I'm going to die. My arm throbs as blood floods out of it.

Suddenly there is someone rushing towards me. They leap onto the tiger and stab it in the back. I grab my pack and start to run.

"Hey, aren't you going to thank me?" They call after me. I stop, I know it's not a good idea, they might kill me. But why go to the bother of killing the mutt if they're going to kill me anyway?

"I-I thanks." I mutter. They take something out of their pack and chucks it to me. It's a crumpled bandage.

"Use it on your arm. Be more careful next time." Then they're gone, running off. I don't even know who they were. They saved my life though. I'll never even find out why. I'm grateful though. My face would just be another face up in the sky otherwise. Like all the others.

 **Layla's POV (D7F's mentor)**

District 7's odds of winning are pretty high at the moment. Bea made a bang right from the start, blowing up both tributes next to her and then grabbing gear and running. Showing off her climbing skills. Making a full recovery from what looked like a badly sprained ankle. I was hopeful from day 1, and if the rumours from 7 were true, they were hopeful too. The Capitol didn't see her straight away, but they're certainly paying attention now. Last I heard half the Capitol are betting on her winning, the other half are betting on Flynn or Isla, the only two careers left.

Bea's got a pretty big sponsor pool building. She's not in desperate need of anything though. I am considering sending her a grenade, to use if her mutt fails her. Her mutt is excellent at fighting, just like all the other mutts in the arena, but they're not immortal, one kid has just killed two in a row, and he isn't that good a fighter, he was smart the first time and the mutt was attacking someone else the second. It's good to make sure Bea has as many defences as possible because she's not an amazing fighter.

I look at the screen to see how she's doing. She's flying pretty close to the edge of the arena, I hope she doesn't fry herself. No, wait, the mutts clearly been programmed to not go a certain distance from the force field because it's just stopped and no matter how much Bea tries, it will not go forwards, it goes left instead. It's probably sensed that's where the least tributes are.

 **Hank's POV (D3M)**

My water supply is now non- existent. I drank the last of it earlier this evening, I just hope I have a couple of sponsors that may be willing to help me out. They may be paying me a bit of attention though, they've seen I can shoot and how much damage my taser can do.

I keep walking, until about midnight when I collapse as the sun rises. I can't go on. I try to scramble up pretty quickly though because I start to sink into the marsh. I make it to a patch of grass with a tree, and sit there, my mouth as dry as sandpaper when I hear the sound I've been longing to hear.

Beep! Beep! Beep! I catch the parachute. I don't bother reading the note, I just take a long sip of water. I then pick the note back up.

 _Try to make it last. This is made up of the last of your sponsors and the arena won't be providing any water until someone else dies._

 _~K_

I screw the lid back on the bottle, but as I do, the bottle slips from my hands onto the floor, I dive to get it before it hits the floor, but misaim. My head sinks into the thick marsh. I can't breathe. I try to pull my head out, but I can't. I'm stuck, sinking. It's clogging up my ears and nose. I can't breathe. Someone help me please. I have to win. For dad. To carry on his legacy. I can't die like this, not the son of the rebel Beetee Latier, there has to be more to life than this. I can't die.

 **Flynn's POV (D1M)**

I set out tribute hunting as usual this morning, but nothing. No one. Where are they all hiding? They must have luck on their side because when I find them I am going to rip them apart limb by limb. I head back to the cornucopia around dusk.

My arm stings suddenly. I look down. Sticking out of my elbow, is an arrow. I yank it out, and look to see where it came from, the cornucopia. I need to bandage up my arm before I kill whoever's there. I head to a nearby tree to set up camp for the night. I take my first aid gear out of my pack and start sorting through it. I don't really know what I need to do to sort it out. I've already removed the arrow, so I get some antiseptic wipes and start wiping around the wound to try to stop any infection. Then I bandage it up to stop the infection and take a couple of painkillers. They're only small ones, so they don't do much, but I might manage a couple of hours sleep. In the morning I'll go and attack whoever's at the cornucopia. For now though, I'll have a meal and sleep.

I am woken up late at night by the sound of the canon. Only four others left. Four more deaths and I'm going home and I'll bathe in riches for the rest of my life. I can't wait.

 **Callum's POV (D5M)**

Just as I'm settling to sleep I see a tiger mutt prowl straight past my tree. I jump down and start to follow it. I don't want it coming back when I'm asleep and killing me. I stalk it for a while until it starts jumping at another tree that was in the distance. Someone jumps from it and starts to fight the tiger. Pretty unsuccessfully. The tiger is just about to kill them when I run up behind it and stab it in the back with my spear.

I don't know why. If I had waited someone else would be dead. It just seemed wrong. They couldn't fight back. They look at me and grab their stuff and begin leg it.

"Hey, aren't you going to thank me?" I call; I did save their life after all.

"I-I thanks." They say, I look more closely, their arm's bleeding I take a bandage out of my bag and give it to them. I don't know why I'm being so nice. I guess I just haven't got it in me to watch someone die. I would have blamed myself if I had stood and watched as they died.

"Use it on your arm. Be more careful next time." I turn and run, before they do something stupid and turn on me or something.


	28. Chapter 27

**It's not very good I know, but I don't have much time at the moment, but after Wednesday I'll have no more exams. Wooo! Well, not until November. Ugh. Anyway, there'll probably only be two or three more chapters of the actual games and then there'll be another couple about the victor's life after the games.**

 **Thank you to everyone who's reviewed and please carry on, I love to know what you guys think.**

 **Chapter 27**

 **Day 13 morning**

 **Flynn's POV (D1M)**

Someone died last night so the arena's now grassland. I'll need to be careful now, there could be poisonous snakes hidden amongst the tall blades of grass. I'll head to the Cornucopia now, to kill whoever's camping out there. I'll teach them not to mess with me. I won't have my gear taken off me; I've been training for this for years. I will be the one to come out of this arena alive. I will.

I use the cover of the long blades of grass to my advantage, ducking through it so they won't see me. When I reach the cornucopia I go inside the horn to see if they're in there. It's the best place to sleep because it's sheltered. They are. It's the girl from 4. I slash her arm with my sword to wake her up and she wakes immediately, lunging towards me with a sharp knife. The knife scrapes my leg, but I dodge out of the way before it is a really fatal blow. She takes advantage of my step back and stands up, swinging her pack on her back as she does.

"Do you have a death wish?" She snarls, grabbing a spear leaning up against the walls.

"No, but you must have to have shot that arrow at me." I retort. She's so ignorant. She lunges towards me, aiming for the area the arrow hit, but I'm too quick and swirl out of the way. She walks back around to me, so that she's now nearer the exit of the inside of the cornucopia and starts a volley off attacks which I easily fend off. She looks at the floor, and in that moment, I bring my sword up and quickly knock the spear from her hand. She brings something out of her pocket and ducks as I slash at her chest. It's a box of matches. She takes one out and swipes it against the box. An orange flame appears. I slash at her again, but she grins.

"Want a bit of advice?" She asks. I think about using my hand grenade to kill her, but I might need it against the special item. Plus, I can kill her easily.

"Why would I want some advice from a dead girl walking?" I snarl.

"Oh, you will. She chucks the match down at a puddle. "Run." Then she turns away and sprints out of the cornucopia. Why would I need to run? She just chucked a flame into a puddle. Then I feel the heat crawling up my back and my feet are in excruciating pain. I turn to see a fire raging, but I'm trapped. The dry grass has caught fire quickly and the fire's raging around the exit. What has that girl done? I was supposed to win. I wasn't supposed to go down in a fire. Then smoke rises and I can't breathe. I fall down and watch as the flames flicker closer to my face.

 **Vincent's POV (D6M)**

The sound of a cannon wakes me up. I look around and the arena has shifted into a forest. I'm now leaning against a tree in a small clearing where sunlight trickles through the branches of the tall trees surrounding it. I wonder who it is that's died. I stand up and my arm starts throbbing. I still want to know who it was that saved my life last night.

I may never find out who it is. If I don't win these games, I hope they do. They didn't even know who I was and they saved me. I will never be able to repay their debt though. I wonder why they did it. They would have been in a better position if they had just let me die. Maybe the arena doesn't turn everyone into monsters. Maybe they don't want to win. I don't know.

Beep! Beep! Beep! I look up and a parachute is falling down towards me. I have a sponsor! I didn't think anyone would want to sponsor me.

 _It was the boy from 5. Don't really know why. Only a few people are paying attention to you which means the game makers probably won't try to draw you near to somebody. Just stay at the side lines until you have to fight. Good luck._

 _~A_

At least I know who saved my life now. It was the boy from chatted a bit during training. He seemed nice. I set the note to the side and inside the container are a small bottle of water and a packet of rice crackers. I take the bottle out and take a small sip. It's almost all I have, so I have to ration it carefully. I take a cracker and bite into it slowly. I take slow nibbles and then put the rest away, I don't want to eat them all at once.

 **Bea's POV (D7F)**

I'm pretty surprised to hear the canon for the third time in 24 hours about halfway through the morning. One went last night. Then another in the early morning. Now another one. The game makers are obviously drawing us together.

The arena has now shifted from a cool shaded forest to a kind of maze. At least I think it's a maze. The floor, walls and ceiling is made of white marble. My mutt changed into a horse just after the arena changed so I jumped on its back and we walk on. I've never ridden a horse before and it's pretty bumpy, but good fun. This is so weird. I'm in the arena and I'm enjoying it. Does this make me a bad person?

No. It can't. I mean it's not the actual being in the arena and killing that I like. It's the horse riding. That's when it hits me. I'm so close to getting out of the arena. Because of the three deaths, I'm now in the final 2. Only two more deaths and a life of luxury awaits me. I wonder who is still left. I really hope at least one of the two careers is dead. I may be able to take one of them on with my mutt, but my mutt would probably end up pretty badly injured. At least it'll only be a couple more days in the arena.

 **Isla's POV (D4F)**

I am woken by someone slashing my arm. I pull the knife out that I sleep with and stab at them, I manage to scrape their leg before they dart away. In the time they take to dart away, I stand up, taking care to knock a certain bottle over as I go. Now I just need to by myself some time. I look at my attacker. It's the boy from 1.

"Do you have a death wish?" I sneer while grabbing the spear I left by the wall.

"No, but you must have to have shot that arrow at me." I hold my spear up and jab, aiming for where the arrow hit his arm yesterday. I'm not trying hard though. I need him to be arrogant. He da volley of attacks which can easily be fended off. He does with an air of arrogance. I look at the floor behind him to make sure it's spread to a sufficient area of ground and he knocks the spear out my hand. I grab my matches out and light one. He slashes at me once more but I dodge, grinning at him. It's time to put my master plan into action.

"Want a bit of advice?" He's way too cocky to have ever been able to win.

"Why would I want some advice from a dead girl walking?" He sniggers.

"Oh, you will. I throw the match at the puddle. "Run." Then I run as fast as I can before the inside of the cornucopia goes up in flames.

You see, he thought it was just a puddle. It wasn't just a puddle. He didn't even know there was some highly flammable petrol at the cornucopia. I got a spare water bottle and poured petrol in it. I knew that after I shot him, he'd be coming back for revenge so I kept it close so that I could light it at any moment. I moved all the stuff on top of the cornucopia so I wouldn't lose it in the blaze.

There's only four of us left now. I hope sponsors will notice me some more now. And I hope my mentor stops being stupid. She didn't sponsor me anything for the whole games and then she sponsors me a whistle. I whistle. I tried blowing it and it didn't make a noise. I kept it though, the note from my mentor told me to, she wouldn't tell me why though.

 **Callum's POV (D5M)**

The canon goes just as I start to gather my gear together this morning. I wonder who it was. I'm one step closer to home now. The arena changes into a forest and I start hunting for food. I haven't got much. I find a patch of wild mushrooms and they look like some I saw in training so I figure they're okay to eat.

Soon afterwards I get really thirsty and black spots keep appearing and disappearing in my vision. I don't think those mushrooms were edible after all. Oh well. I never did have much chance of winning. I curl up and go to sleep. I know I won't wake up. I just hope a career doesn't win.

 **Deaths:**

 **4** **th** **: Callum (D5M) –Poisonous mushrooms**

 **5** **th** **: Flynn (D1M) –Fire caused by D4F**


	29. Chapter 28

**Woo, my exams are officially over, sort of ish. Not really but I don't have any left on my timetable so I don't count them cos I don't have them in the official PPE conditions so… less revision and more fanfic writing. Yay! If I get enough time I might try to get out chapters twice a week. Probably Friday and Monday. What do you guys think? Anyway, thank you to everyone who has reviewed, I love hearing what you think, I'm sorry I haven't been able to message you thanking you, but revision got in the way, I do love it so much when you guys review though so please let me know what you think of this chapter and I hope you enjoy :).**

 **Chapter 28**

 **Isla's POV (D4F)**

 **Day 13 afternoon and night**

It's been a busy twelve hours. Three deaths. I know one is the boy from 1, who I killed. The fire inside the cornucopia is still burning strong, but I've blocked the entrance up so it shouldn't spread. The roof of the cornucopia is burning hot from the fire raging inside so I can't sit on it.

The arena is currently a giant maze with the cornucopia in the middle. At least that's what it looks like to me. I start sorting through some of the gear that I had to move after I shot the boy from 1, Flynn, he was called, I think. I didn't have any chance to sort through everything, so I need to go through it all.

There's a lot of weapons, food and water. I also find a lot of syringes of the red liquid that I injected into myself on the first day. I smash them all up quickly so no one can use them. I don't need them, I can see who all the other tributes are because of it and I don't want to give anyone else that advantage.

There's no other careers, so I'm safe staying here in the open and I don't need a pack to have with me just in case I need to run. Well, unless the game makers send something after me that makes me move away, but there's been quite a few deaths recently so they might leave us alone.

I'll leave the cornucopia later today and go tribute hunting. I'll have to mark my way with notches on the wall made with a spear or something though, so I don't get lost. The only other people that could be alive now is the boys from 3, 5 or 6 and the girl from 7. It could be any combination of two of them.

The boy from 3 did get a high training score, it was the same as mine, I was pretty surprised about that. District 3 don't usually have fighters, I'll have to be careful if he's still in the arena. Though, he is the son of Beetee Latier and might have inherited some of his brains and did some smart thing in front of the game makers which impressed them.

I'm pretty sure the boy got a 6 on training, which is quite high for someone from 6, but I've trained for years so I don't think it'll be an issue. The girl from 7 got a 7, which is about average for her district because they learn how to use axes from a young age so apart from the careers, District 7 has the highest number of victors. They occasionally do get a career tribute from 7. About every four or five years. They train with axes until they're deadly and then volunteer. They mostly join the career pack, but they do sometimes go free-lance. Either way, they can be just as deadly as normal careers if they get their hands on an axe.

I'm not sure how the boy from 5 has survived this long. He only got a 5, a pretty average score, unless he was pretending to be average so no one noticed him. Or he could have just got lucky so far. Either way, I'll be able to kill him pretty easily if he's still alive.

If she's alive, I'll have to be careful when I'm attacking her though, because she has the special item. I still have no idea what it is, but I know it'll be dangerous. I want to try and kill her first, so I might be able to use the special weapon to kill the boy from 6.

 **Sally's POV (Flynn's sister)**

 **Day 13 morning**

 **District 1, at school**

I wonder why the principle wants to speak to me. I haven't done anything wrong… I don't think. It might be something to do with Flynn. No, school's cancelled for the day when the games end. She gestures for me to sit down on a plastic blue seat.

"Sally, I'm sorry, but you need to watch this." She presses a button and the small black and white TV on her wall flashes to life.

I watch as Flynn flickers onto the screen. What's all this about? He can't be… be dead. Can he? He slashes the District 4 girl's arm. She wakes immediately and starts to stab at him. He darts away.

"Do you have a death wish?" The girl sneers, grabbing a spear to fight Flynn properly.

"No, but you must have to have shot that arrow at me." Flynn laughs. You go bro. She holds the spear up and tries to attack his arrow wound but he blocks and starts a volley of attacks. Soon he knocks the spear out of her hand. Go on kill her Flynn. You'll be the only career left then. She takes out a box of matches and lights one. Flynn slashes at her, but she dodges out of the way quickly.

"Want a bit of advice?" Flynn doesn't need advice, he's way too good.

"Why would I want some advice from a dead girl walking?" He sniggers. I love it when he's this confident.

"Oh, you will." She throws the match at the ground. "Run." She turns and runs out of the cornucopia as it… as the… as the inside… erupts with flames. No! But Flynn's in there. He can't be. I stand up and grab the chair I was sitting on. He can't be. Flynn can't be dead. He's the best fighter in the games. I hold the chair above my head and launch it at the TV. What sort of a sick joke is this? Why would the principle lie to me.

"I'm sorry Sally. Sally!" She shouts as I run to the smashed up TV that's fallen off the wall and start kicking it.

"He's not dead." I yell. My foot's starting to hurt, but I don't care. All I care about is Flynn.

"I'm sorry Sally, but you have to accept it." She says and pats me on the shoulder. I turn around and punch her in the face. Her nose clicks beneath my fist and blood spurts out. I look around for an escape route. She's blocking the door, but there's always the window. I sprint towards it, jumping over her desk on the way. It's only when the glass smashes around me and I look down do I realise I'm on the 1st floor.

"Sally?" Someone's standing over me. "Sally can you hear me?" I look around, dazed. I feel numb. All over. Then it comes flooding back to me. Flynn.

"Is he really dead?" I ask groggily.

"I'm so sorry Sally." It's true. But he can't really be dead, can he?

 **Bea's POV (D7F)**

I stop to have a snack and rest mid-afternoon. At least I think it's mid-afternoon, I can't see the sun in this new arena, so I don't know for definite, but I think it's about mid-afternoon. It certainly feels like it.

I'm just chewing on a forkful of noodles when an almighty roar makes me almost jump out of my skin. I turn around, picking my knife up as I go and see a huge metal dragon coming towards me, it opens its huge mouth again and fire streams out at me. I duck quickly and before I can do anything my mutt morphs into a small bird and flies onto it. It's too busy flying towards me, that it doesn't notice the bird landing on its back.

I can feel the heat of it now it's only five meters or so away. Suddenly there's a huge flash and I'm blinded for a second. When I can see again I see my mutt turning from an electric eel into a small wolf. I think it turned into an electric eel and electrocuted it. Where the huge metal beast was, is now a curled up blackened piece of metal.

I hadn't seen it in a fight before now, but I know for definite that it will defend me now and it is a good fighter. I seriously doubt I would have been able to kill that thing on my own.

I go back to my noodles and to my dismay I find I knocked them over in my haste to grab my knife. I'm about to take comes crackers out to nibble on instead when a beep makes me jump. I look up to see a hole closing in the ceiling and a parachute coming down from it. I grab it when it reaches head height and open it quickly.

 _Bea,_

 _You're doing great. Not much further to go, just don't do anything dumb or take any stupid risks, you have plenty of sponsors. The game makers will probably try to draw you and Isla together because the Capitol is divided between who they want out of you two to win. Remember that mutt is your lifeline, DO NOT DO ANYTHING THAT COULD KILL IT. It will be your best weapon against Isla if you have the element of surprise on your side, and to be honest, you won't be winning without it unless somehow Isla dies. Good luck._

 _~L_

I don't know who Isla is, but I'm going to assume it's the girl from 4 which means there's still at least one career left. It's good that I've got plenty of sponsors. I put the note to one side and look at what I've been sponsored. There's two large steaming tins. I open the first one and it has a load of veg, some roast potatoes and some roast pork in it. I practically laugh out loud. A roast dinner in the arena. This is ridiculous. I must have a lot of sponsors if this is what Layla's buying me.

I take the second tin out and look inside it. Oh for goodness' sake. Seriously Layla? I actually laugh out loud this time. Inside the tin is a sticky toffee pudding. Yep. You heard me right. Sticky. Toffee. Pudding. In the hunger games. This literally cannot get any more ridiculous.

Okay, I take that back. I've just discovered in the container is also some cutlery, a napkin and a jug of gravy. Gravy. This is so weird. I'm not sure anyone's ever had a roast dinner and dessert sponsored to them in the games before.

I grab the cutlery and dive in before it gets cold though. I eat it all except for a couple of slices of meat which I can eat cold tomorrow. It's been the nicest thing I've eaten since I came into this arena. The Capitol seal comes up. The boy from 1 is the first person to come up. Good. The girl from 4's the only career left. The boy from 3 comes up next, I only really remember him from his training score – 8. It's really unusual for a boy from 3 to have a training score that high, it's mainly career tributes that manage that. Then it's the boy from 5. I don't really remember him. That leaves the boy from 6 and Isla in the arena with me.

I think I do have a chance. Hopefully. If my mutt can kill Isla, I stand a good chance. I got a higher score than the boy from 6 and I have my mutt. I curl up to sleep with a full stomach, warm and hopeful for my prospects of winning.

I am soon woken by the sound of a cannon though.

 **Deaths:**

 **He he he. Guess you'll have to wait until next chapter to find out.**


	30. Chapter 29

**It's pretty short I know, but there's just a lot less to write about now because there's not many left, the chapters after the games will start to get longer. I'll probably only do one more chapter on the actual games. I hope you enjoy, and thank you to everyone who has reviewed so far and please carry on I love getting your reviews.**

 **Chapter 29**

 **Vincent's POV (D6M)**

 **Day 13 evening/night**

Three of us left. That's all. I'm in the final 3. I never thought I'd make it past the bloodbath, but here I am. I won't get my hopes up though. The other two in the arena are probably in a much better position than I am. One of them has the special item. I don't know which one. Probably the career. I hope the Capitol send a mutt or something after her that kills her. I may be able to take the girl from 7 on, but I won't be able to kill the career. Not unless she's severely injured, and she's a career so she's a killing machine so it's highly unlikely that she'll be injured enough for me to take her on and kill her.

Beep! Beep! Beep! I look up and a parachute floats down. I guess some people are rooting for me. The container attached to it is long and thin, I wonder what my mentor's got me. I've probably only got sponsors from people who feel sorry for me, or their favourite tribute is already dead.

 _Keep going. You said that you were better with a mace than a sword so I figured you could use this now, especially considering whether you like it or not you're going to be in a fight soon._

 _~A_

Beneath it is a heavy looking mace. I pull it out and swing it around a couple of times. It's perfect for me to use, I do stand a lot better chance of winning now. I gather my stuff up and start walking. I soon come to a dead end and decide it's a good a place as any to sleep for now. I settle down and start to doze.

I am woken a little later by the sound of footsteps. I grab my mace and peek around the corner. I think it's the girl from 4, they've got a lot of weapons and gear. They see me and draw their spear. I ready my mace and swing at them. They block me quickly, but the impact of the mace against the spear forces her to drop it. She ducks as I swing at her head and draws a long knife. She swerves and dodges closer and closer to me and she finally gives me a hard kick to my shins. I drop the mace, in agony. I realise my mistake and try to pick it up, but her knife is already at my throat.

"Make it quick." I grunt. Darkness.

 **[Incompetentlyinceneratingyou74 you were wrong lol]**

 **Layla's POV (D4F'S Mentor)**

This is going well. Very well. Isla's now in the final two and she has the whistle that'll block Bea's mutt. At the moment people are saying the probability of Isla winning is 70%. As long as she figures out what the whistle is of course. I'm not allowed to tell her because it classes as helping too much, but she's smart and should figure it out on her own. If she doesn't figure it out, her odds are about 50%, which isn't great.

The game makers are plotting something for the finale though. They've already done an odd choice in arena for the finale. The arena is just a huge lake with the cornucopia on an island in the middle. Small boats appeared where both the tributes were at the time of the change. The boats aren't very sturdy and the oars look crudely made, but they work. Isla's just drifting at the moment, but the girl from 7 looks like she's trying to aim for the cornucopia. She's about 6 miles off, but she's going pretty slow and she definitely won't reach it until dawn at the earliest. It shouldn't be long now until the end of the games. Isla will be glad to come out, it's been almost 2 weeks in there.

 **Bea's POV (D7F)**

The final two. The final two. Wow. It feels weird to be saying those words. I wasn't even sure I'd make the bloodbath, but I'm almost at the finishing line now. The game makers usually try to draw the final two to the cornucopia for the grand final so I'm heading there anyway. If Isla's not there, I may be able to get some better stuff.

I have got plenty of gear, but I just want to get a few more weapons. I'm not much good with a lot of weapons, but there may be a slingshot and some knives I could use. I keep rowing slowly until the sun starts to rise. I send a message telepathically to my mutt and it turns into a huge bird thing and flies underneath my boat and lifts it on its wide, flat wings. It hovers in the air about 5 meters up and I curl up and sleep.

I have to say, I never imagined I'd be sleeping in a place as odd as this, even in the games. Floating on a boat held up by a giant shapeshifting mutt that will defend me to the death. Sounds pretty random, but I don't care how random it is if it means I win. If I survive.

That's what I've been doing my whole life after all. Surviving. Living amongst the trees in 7. Ever since my mum murdered my dad that is. Oh my gosh. Something twists inside of me uncomfortably. I'm turning into my mum. She murdered my dad. I've killed. I killed those two tributes when I first got into the arena to give me a good shot at escaping the cornucopia with decent gear. I never really gave them a second thought until now. They were people. They had lives. They had families. They had a story. And I killed them. Without a second thought. And that's what scares me the most. Am I turning as bad as the careers, killing without a second thought? What if I'm turning bad? What if the Capitol are turning me into a monster?

I'd rather die than let that happen.

No.

This isn't my fault. Even if I hadn't killed them at least one of them would have ended up dying anyway. It's survival. I had to kill them. I'm not saying their life was worth more than mine, because it wasn't. I just value my own existence over theirs. I know it sounds like I'm juxtaposing myself, but I'm only trying to survive. I don't want anyone to die. Except the president. And perhaps my mum. I didn't want to kill them. But in the arena it's kill or be killed. Is it really so wrong to want to live?

Maybe they're the winners now though. Maybe this is the price of winning. Eternal guilt. Maybe they're in a much better place. I don't know. I don't know what happens after death. Maybe it's nothing maybe you get judged, I don't know. And I think that's why people are so afraid. They're not afraid of actually dying. They're afraid of what happens next. Or what doesn't. The fear of the unknown.

I'm going crazy in here. I just hope this ends soon so I can get out and heal by myself. So I can try to forget. So things might start to go back to normal. I mean as normal as it can be after I've won the games. I mean I'll be a mentor. And I'll have a posh house in the Victor's village. And everyone in Panem will know me. Some things might stay the same though. I hope I stay the same at least. At the very least. I don't want to change. Become someone I'm not.

 **It's down to the final two. Who do you want to win, Bea, or Isla? Whoever gets the most votes in the reviews in the next 3 days will win (the next update may be a day late if I don't have time to write the chapter cos I can't start until the vote's over).**


	31. Chapter 30

**It's a pretty short chapter, but there wasn't really much to fight about. Thank you to everyone who has reviewed so far, I love hearing what you think. I hope you enjoy this chapter and tell me what you think.**

 **Chapter 30**

 **Isla's POV (D4F)**

 **Day 14 morning**

After I killed the boy from 6, the arena turned into a lake and a boat appeared underneath me. They must be planning something big for the showstopper. I'm not having to row at the moment, the current's just drifting me along. It's just me and the girl from 7 left. She does have the special item though. That puts us on equal grounds.

I've made it as far as Anthony did. He was killed by a mutt at this point. I bet my parents are surprised I made it this far. They were expecting me to die in the bloodbath. I proved them wrong though. I've got as far as Anthony did. If I win, I will no longer stand in his shadows. If I lose, then I'll still have proved my parents wrong. They always said that he was better than me, but if I come 2nd like he did, then that'll make me the same. That's all I ever wanted. For my parents to see us as equals. They never believed that I would have it in me to kill. When or if I get home, I'm not going to let them into my house in the victors' village. It'll just be me. The way I like it.

I'll get a house with the view of the sea. I can watch it all day if I want then. I remember my last day in 4 before the reaping. I considered taking a boat and seeing what was out there. I might. One day. If I make it back. I might just take a tonne of food and fresh water and just leave. I may not make it, but I could die trying.

I can see the cornucopia in the distance. There's something flying through the air towards it from the opposite direction. It's going quicker than me and reaches it first. Once I get closer I see what it is. There's a giant bird with a boat on its back. It's placing it on the floor and the girl from 7 is getting out. The bird must be some sort of mutt that was the special item. I suddenly remember the whistle I was sponsored and take it out. Maybe it's some sort of defence against the mutt. I blow it and watch as the bird flies away.

 **Bea's POV (D7F)**

What's going on?

"No!" I yell. "Come back!" But for some reason my mutt has gone off along with most of my chances of winning. I run to the stuff by the cornucopia. I think the girl from 4 is coming closer I think. There's a boat coming towards me, so it's probably her.

I quickly grab a bow and quiver of arrows. I grab a sword and whip as well. I'm not amazing with any of them, but it's better than nothing. Especially against a career. I notch an arrow and pull the bow string back and start to aim. I release the string and the arrow pings through the air. It just falls short of the boat. I pull another arrow out of the quiver and aim again. It sticks out of the front of the boat this time.

 **President Trusta's POV**

Grayson's promised me a winner before lunchtime. It's getting close, I can tell that. It's looking like Isla will win. Bea's mutt has abandoned her because Isla was sponsored the whistle that would make the mutt go away while she's near to Bea. It stops it from attacking her. It's good when careers win. It helps the prevention of rebellions. It keeps the cycle of things going. So each district knows its place in the eyes of the Capitol.

"President, do you want some more action?" I turn and see Grayson standing behind me.

"Is there any time when I don't?" I arch my eyebrow at him.

"It'll get more interesting in a couple of minutes." He said and walked out back to his office.

 **Grayson's POV**

It's time to spice it up a bit. I think we'll have a sudden storm surge with a couple of piranhas. I quickly start designing the piranha mutts and within 5 minutes, they're complete. I have copies of just about every type of mutt possible and I can just adjust certain aspects of them for the situation I'll be putting them into.

I head into the main game maker's room.

"Right, what's happening?" I ask. They haven't killed each other yet or I would have been told.

"Isla's about to reach the cornucopia." Someone says immediately.

"Create a storm surge to fling her to the other side of the cornucopia. Make the little piranha mutts circle around them in the water. I want them to be giving them nips if they aren't fighting." I say. Someone quickly types something onto their screen and a huge wall of water rises towards Bea and flings Isla onto the top of the cornucopia.

 **Isla's POV (D4F)**

They're trying to hurry us up. The huge wave flinging me opposite from Bea made that clear. My pack was sitting in the boat so it get flung into the lake. I still have my bow and sword though. I shoot an arrow at Bea, but she dives out the way. A sharp stinging sensation runs through my foot. I look down. There's a mini piranha mutt biting onto it. I stab it off and start running towards Bea.

 **Bea's POV (D7F)**

This is it. I just hope I get lucky. I don't want to die. I flick my whip at her to try and slow her down, but all that happens is that some weird piranha mutt bites onto the end and makes it hard to whip. I chuck it to the side. Oh what the heck. Yolo. I pull my sword out and charge towards her.

Our swords meet with a loud clash and I pull back quickly to defend. She does a quick volley of attacks which I somehow manage to fend off. A piranha bites onto my leg, which causes me to unbalance and she kicks my sword away from me. I try to scramble away whilst grabbing the knife from my belt. She holds the sword up to my neck. This is it. I'm going to die. I'm scared. I close my eyes.

Then I hear the sword clatter from her hand to the ground.

 **Isla's POV (D4F)**

I chuck away my bow and throw the quiver of arrows off my back.

"See this, mum, dad!" I scream. "I'm better than Anthony." I don't think I ever wanted to volunteer. "I could kill her, I could just slit her throat." Anger rages through me. This was never about winning. It was about proving myself. I never really wanted to kill, not really. I just wanted to prove myself. And now I had.

"Make it quick." Bea whispers.

"Anthony never got this close to winning." I shout, ignoring her. "I could kill her, I've killed three people already. It's not that I can't kill her. It's not that I'll feel guilty about killing her." I pull a knife from my belt. "Make this worth it." I say to Bea, who was scrambling away. Then I plunge the knife into my heart.

 **So Bea wins. The final vote as of when I started writing this chapter was 2 votes to Bea and 1 to Isla, but I was just checking my emails and I saw I had another review and someone else voted for Isla, but when I said there was three days to vote, it was at like 4pm and the review was posted after then so Incompetentlyincineratingyou74 sorry but your vote doesn't count.**

 **Before anyone starts flaming at me for Isla's death too, I just want to explain my reasoning to why she committed suicide. Her whole life she was living in her brother's shadow because in her parents' eyes he was better at everything than her. When he went into the games and died her parents blamed her even though she had nothing to do with it. She carried on training at the academy, and before that point her parents had only really cared about Anthony's training so they didn't bother finding out that she was the chosen volunteer for that year. If her parents hadn't always compared her to Anthony then she wouldn't volunteer, but she wanted to prove that she wasn't Anthony and she could be better than him at some things. Once she had overpowered Bea, she could have killed her. Isla wasn't a bad person though, and by this point she had proved to her parents that she was better than Anthony so she didn't really care what happened to her. Basically, she was depressed and she had proven her point so she'd rather someone who could have a good life back in the district won as opposed to herself.**


	32. AN

Sorry, this isn't actually an update. I know I'm supposed to update today but I just feel like I'm spending too much time writing fanfics at the moment and I feel like it's making my stories kinda stale, so I'm going to take a break for a week and not write anymore chapters for any of my fanfics. Next week I should be back to writing, again sorry for this, but I want my stories to be as good as possible.


	33. Chapter 31

**I'm back! Woo. Sorry about not updating, but I did explain. This chapter is really short because I wanted it to be separate from the interview. I was planning on doing the interview next chapter and then one final chapter so by this time next week, I should be clicking the complete button.**

 **Thank you to everyone who has reviewed and please let me know what you think of this chapter. I hope you enjoy.**

 **Chapter 31**

 **Bea's POV**

The canon sounds. I won. All I feel is numbness. Why did she kill herself? She could have won. Who is Anthony? Was she talking about Anthony from last year's games? I heard something about them being related.

Then I realise. I've won. I've survived the games. I'm safe for the rest of my life. I can't be reaped again and I can live a life in luxury.

"Ladies and gentlemen I present the winner of the 100th hunger games, Bea Nightingale." It's all over. I hear a rumbling noise and I look up and see the hovercraft coming down. I breathe a sigh of relief. I climb onto the hovercraft and doctors and nurses immediately swarm around me, checking me over. Now they've finished trying to kill me they wouldn't want me to die.

"Can I have something hot to drink?" I ask. Now I'm a victor I can ask for practically anything and they'll give it to me. I had never had a hot drink before I went to the Capitol and I loved them, so I might as well try to relax now.

"Of course." About five people go off to fetch me one and Layla comes up to me.

"You survived." Survived not won. Because there are no winners. I get it now. There are only survivors who can only hope to heal the scars the arena leaves us with. Maybe it would have been easier dying. She leans in to hug me. "Trusta's not happy, we'll talk later." She whispers quietly. Trusta's not happy. What does she mean? Is she not happy with me? What did I do? Was it to do with Isla committing suicide?

I am led to a room with a bed on and am eased onto it. They immediately start attaching wires to attach me to a monitor. I am given my hot drink and they finally leave me alone. Layla comes in.

"We need to talk." She says. "And I'm sorry, no it can't wait."

"What's the matter?" I ask.

"You know how the last rebellion started with Katniss and Peeta and the berries in the games?" I nod. Everyone knows it. "They're scared something like that will happen again so they have a delay on the cameras before it's broadcasted to Panem."

"What's that got to do wi-" I start, but she interrupts.

"Isla. They weren't happy with what she was saying to do with Anthony before she died." I suppose it showed that we do have minds of our own. It shows the Capitol that we could stop obeying them. "They're going to edit the footage so that before she disarmed you, you stab her in the leg and then in the chest."

"I-I, so I killed her?"

"Yes. No one can know otherwise, or they'll dispose of you. For you own sake, pretend you killed her." I nod. She turns to leave. "Oh and Bea?"

"Yeah?" What else, I just want to rest.

"Well done." I give her a small smile before putting my drink on the side and going to sleep without worrying about someone killing me while I do.

 **Trusta's POV**

That stupid little girl. She could have nearly caused us an uprising and she probably didn't even realise. They never do. The end of the games is going to be broadcasted any second now using the edited version made by the game makers. We can't afford another uprising.

I've informed Bea's mentor, Layla, that she needs to update Bea on how she really won. It's a fragile system yes, we've seen that before. It was nearly taken down by a couple of berries, but it works, and we're all happy here in the Capitol.

I'm not happy with Grayson though. He should have realised that Isla could be trouble an eradicated her. I'm going to have to kill Grayson, for crimes against the Capitol. Rat-a-tat-tat.

"Come in." It must be Grayson.

"You asked for me, ma'am." He says.

"Take a seat." I say pointing to the chair on the opposite side of the desk. "I am afraid you have not done your job properly, Grayson."

"I-I, don't understand ma'am." He stammers.

"You don't understand?" I ask, arching my eyebrow. I quite like Grayson, he was a good head game maker, but all good things have to come to an end. This is for the good of the Capitol. "Isla's actions could have started a revolution!" I thunder at him. "You know what that means."

"I-I-I didn't know." He says, tears starting to come to his eyes.

"We can't risk it. It was only averted because of the delay which I have in place." I open a draw on my desk and pick out my gun. I put it on the desk and load it. "Now you must be punished. You are going to take this gun and shoot yourself in the head."

"And if I don't?" He's starting to bore me. Why do they always assume that I don't take precautions.

"Then we'll bring your wife and children in here and torture them until they do." He picks up the gun.

 **Grayson's POV**

She slides the gun across the wooden desk towards me and I pick it up. I have no other choice. She has no other choice but to make me either. I don't want to do this, but it's for the good of Panem. We cannot afford another rebellion. There aren't enough of us alive. We'd die out. The last of the human race. I bring the gun up to my head, my finger wobbling over the trigger.

"It's been an honour serving you ma'am." I whisper, pressing my finger down. Bang!

 **Trusta's POV**

"And I wish I could say the same for you." I mutter before tapping my earpiece. "Can someone come and remove the body." Then I stride out. I need to have a shower and get into some more formal clothes for the interview later when I'll be formally announcing Bea as the winner. The official interview with her will be tomorrow so that she has time to recover and we can put the film of the hunger games together.


	34. Chapter 32

**Ah, it's so nice to be able to relax. First day of the holidays today. This chapter's a lot longer than they've been recently. It's also the penultimate chapter, so I should be putting the last chapter up on Monday. If you want something else to read though, I'm doing a SYOT on the hunger games if they did do a hunger games with the children of the Capitol, it will be written in a similar style to this one. I hope you enjoy this chapter and please let me know what you think.**

 **~Dreaming of far away**

 **Chapter 32**

 **Bea's POV**

My dress for the interview is magnificent. Whenever I look at it I can't believe it's mine. It's strapless and is quite tight until it gets the skirt bit then it float outwards and there are swirly black flowers curling around the bottom like a sort of hem. It finishes at my knees and on my feet are a pair of white flats with a black flower on the front.

"There." My stylist smiles as he pins the last bit of my floaty brown hair in place. He's made it soft, shiny and wavy and I can't stop touching it to feel how soft it is. He must have used some kind of conditioner available in the Capitol because it's softer than a goose feather pillow. Most of it is just cascading down my back, but the top layer is pinned back in an elegant black flower pin. A small curl of hair bounces around my eyes.

"Thank you." I reply, gazing into the mirror for one last time before Layla leads me off to give me one last prep before the interview.

"Now remember, you killed Isla." Her eyes go big and she looks scared. She leans into hug me. "She's already killed Grayson and made it look like a suicide so if you slip, you know what's at stake." I nod.

"Thank you, for everything." She smiles, stepping away and looks at me again.

"Go show them what District 7's made of." I nod. "They love you remember. The film always shows a message of the games and we can guess what these ones will be." She looks me in the eye. I never noticed it how sharp and piercing they were. They're the colour of the sky on a bright summer's day. "A girl from 7 who has no family being reaped, gaining a pretty high training score and then getting the first 2 kills of the games. Spraining your ankle, but carrying on. Despite the odds stacked against you, you still won. You know the usual kind of drivel." We reach the end of the corridor and she leads me to the back of the stage. "You'll just need to wait here until they call you on." Butterflies start to form in my stomach and bile rises to my throat. What if they hate me? What if I mess up? What if after all I've been through, they kill me?

"I'm sure you'll all join me in welcoming to the stage Bea Nightingale, winner of the fourth quarter quell and 100th hunger games!" Idola yells after doing a small introduction. The cheering almost deafens me. It's much louder than at my interview before the games. I step out onto the stage and look at the audience.

It's all so overwhelming. The lights. The stage. The audience. The cheering. I stay stuck to the ground for a couple of seconds, drinking it all in, before I rouse myself and take my seat next to Idola.

"Hey." I smile as the cheers start to die down a little.

"I'm afraid we're going to have to wait a while before we interview Bea." The audience start to groan, "But in the meantime, we've put together a film to sum up the games." Idola says and the audience starts to cheer again. They make this film every year. It's normally about three hours long. The first hour is just the reapings, the tribute parade, training and the interviews. The last two thirds are the actual games.

On all the screens in the stadium a picture of President Trusta comes up.

"This year, to celebrate the 100th year of the hunger games, there will be a slight change in the rules this year." They must have added this bit because it was the start of the games really. She opens the envelope in her hands. "This year, to remind you all of both rebellions, there will be two rule changes. Firstly, as a reminder of the dark days, all the tributes will be given an injection so that to each other, the tributes will look the exact same to each other. However, if you are watching on TV you will see them how they really are. This is to teach the rebels that you can't really trust any other rebels. The second change for this year will be that every time there is a death, the landscape of the whole arena will change. Happy hunger games, and may the odds be ever in your favour." It then launches into the District 1 reaping.

I watch the audience's reaction as they see me at the tribute parade again. They have a few clips of me practising with a knife and climbing during training. They put up all the training scores again and then the small clips of each person's interview. They show all of my interview. Next they cut straight to the countdown at the start of the games. Now I'm not under the influence of the serum I can see who it is who committed suicide and who it is I killed. It's the girl from 5 who committed suicide. I watch as I chuck the two halves of my district token to the pedestals either side of me and run to a pack as the two people either side of me blow up. Oh. My. Gosh. I killed Ciaran. I knew he died during the bloodbath, but I never thought it was me who killed him. At least I know his death was quick. A tear runs down my face, but I wipe it away quickly. I cannot show weakness. The other person I killed was the District 3 girl. I don't think I ever even spoke to her. I think she only got a 2 or 3 on training.

To my surprise only 4 of the 9 deaths in the bloodbath were career kills. I suppose when you take out the suicide and the two I killed it was 4 in 7. Then the game makers killed one at the end. The girl from 8 killed one and the boy from 10 killed his district partner. He probably never knew he killed his district partner either.

I watch as I head away from the cornucopia. Then they skip to the next death during the night. The girl from 8. I watch as the boy from 1 chucks a knife into her lung. Him and the girl from 1 then head off, the girl injured from the boy from 8 attacking her. It then shows me falling from the top of the archway. I realise now how dumb I was to sleep up there. I was incredibly lucky to have not seriously injured myself. I was lucky to have only sprained my ankle. The next twenty minutes focuses on me and my recovery.

Before I know it, I am watching the edited clip where I kill Isla and the audience is cheering and screaming my name in delight.

"Well that certainly was an exciting one." Idola smiles at me.

"Even more so for me." Well, if you count exciting as dangerous, but the audience will lap it up. Idola laughs.

"Yes, I suppose it was. Now, I think everyone here was pretty surprised at the outcome of these games."

"Yes, but it just shows that you shouldn't discount the seemingly weaker tributes." I reply.

"It certainly taught us a lesson. Though you did catch some of our attention right at the start of the games, with the landmines."

"Yes, I wanted to get stuff from the cornucopia, but I didn't want to get caught up in the fighting. I realised that my district token could be taken apart and if I timed it right for almost the end of the countdown, I could distract my opponents, giving me the time to escape."

"Well it certainly worked. Do you think you would have still done it if you had known Ciaran was one of the tributes standing next to you?" She asks.

"I don't know. We didn't really get on. I mean we talked but…" I trail off. "I think I might have only chucked it at the girl from 3, I don't think Ciaran ever had it in him to be a killer so I never viewed him as a threat. I don't think he would have ever attacked me unless there was only a couple of other tributes left."

"Of course, in the early morning of the second day you became injured. What was that like?"

"It felt like the world was crashing down around me." I say, looking for Layla in the audience. She told me to be honest, except when it comes to things that would get me killed. I don't want the Capitol to know how I was feeling though, so I'm trying to find her, so it can be like I'm just telling her. "I was on a high from the success of escaping the bloodbath and I had just forgotten that the arena could change, potentially killing me. Before that point, I had some hope that maybe, just maybe. By some miracle I could survive. When I sprained my ankle, I thought that that was it. I was a goner. But thanks to the generosity of my sponsors, I recovered. Thank you to everyone who put sponsor money to the medicine that healed my ankle. It probably saved my life." The audience starts to cheer even louder.

"I have to say, when I saw you fall, I definitely thought you weren't going to win, but it just goes to show that you shouldn't count people out."

"Yes." I smile.

We go on to talk about the rest of the games and the special item until there was only a few minutes of the interview left.

"Now the games are over, what are you going to do?"

"Relax." I reply simply. I suppose now I can. I won't be homeless anymore and I won't ever have to work again though. I wonder if my mum will try to contact me. The audience laughs.

"You've certainly earnt it." Idola says. By killing innocent people? I don't think so. "Thank you Bea, now let's welcome to the stage President Trusta." The audience cheer even louder. Does the Capitol have some sort of device that stops you from getting sore throats because they always seem to be screaming and cheering?

"Thank you Idola." President Trusta smiles coming on. "I will finish it now." Idola smiles, waves to the audience and walks off the stage, not wobbling once on her massive heels. The audience cheers some more. "Another hunger games has passed. The time has come to announce the 100th winner of the hunger games." A young boy dressed in a white suit and a blue tie walks onto the stage holding a red cushion with golden tassels on the corners. On top is an elegant crown. "I present to you Bea Nightingale, winner of the fourth quarter quell and the hundredth games." The crowd go even mental than at any point before. She picks up the crown and as I stand up. She lays it on top of my head. "Congratulations." She whispers, too quiet for the microphones to pick up. I look into her eyes. It's like looking into oblivion. Her eyes are dark, like a bottomless pit.

"Thank you." I lift my head up past her, breaking eye contact. I stare into the audience, barely even seeing them. I don't really know what will happen now. My life back in 7 won't be the same and I know the ghosts of those I killed are going to haunt me in my dreams. Everything's going to change. I don't want it to.


	35. Chapter 33

**I've finally finished this story. It's so satisfying to be able to click the complete button. Thank you Incompetentlyincineratingyou74, cjborange and taylor1103 for constantly reviewing to let me know what you think. I love you all.**

 **I hope you enjoy and please let me know what you think.**

 **Chapter 33**

 **Epilogue**

 **Bea's POV**

"We should be arriving in District 7 shortly." Layla smiles, coming into my carriage.

"Okay." I say, getting off my bed which I've been laying on for the past few hours.

"There will be cameras at the station so you might want to clean up a bit." She says, looking at my knotty hair. I nod and look around for the hairbrush which is on my bedside table. She walks back out and I start attacking my hair. It soon starts to tame and I spray something from the bathroom that I found last night. It makes my hair look really shiny and it lifts it slightly. I leave it bouncing around my shoulders.

"Hurry up, we need to be at the front of the train when we get there." Arcturus, my escort says, coming into my room as I finish.

"Coming." I say. Normally when a tribute gets home to their district, their friends and family greet them and the cameras film the reunion, but I don't really have anyone. I think they're just getting people in my class at school to greet me.

I head up to the front of the train with Arcturus and find Layla waiting for me. In the distant I can see the forests of District 7. I've missed it here. I suddenly can't wait to be free of the cameras so I can head back to where I keep my stuff in my tree to take it back to where my new house will be waiting for me in the Victors' village. I may not be able to do that until tomorrow though because the cameras will be swarming me until I get to the privacy of my new house.

"We're here." Layla smiles as we pull into the tiny train station that is only ever really used to get tributes to and from the Capitol and for the victory tour. Travel between the districts is illegal, except for when it's to do with the hunger games. If someone from the Capitol comes to 7, they usually come by hovercraft because it's quicker and easier.

"Oh my goodness, Bea!" I hear someone scream. I look at the platform. It's a tall woman with dirty blonde hair. She looks vaguely familiar. "Bea, you made it." Layla puts her hand on my shoulder, helping me get down from the train. Cameras start to flash from all directions and there are several questions asked at once.

"What's it like to be back home Bea?"

"What are you going to do now you've won the games Bea?" I ignore them all and stare at the woman.

"Don't you remember me Bea?" She asks, pushing forwards to get closer to me. Then it clicks.

"Get away from me." I say, turning away to face a group of people from my class.

"Bea!" She calls again.

"Hey," I smile at a girl, who I think is called Jess. She always seemed pretty friendly, but I didn't really have time for friends before. "How are you?"

"Good, I'm glad you made it." Then she steps forwards and embraces me. I think they've been told to act like we were closer than we actually were to make it look better.

"Who is that woman?" Layla asks me when I've finished talking to the people from school.

"My mum." I whisper. "I think she's my mum."

"Bea, please." She begs. "You don't understand." She tries to grab my arm, but I snatch it away. But then I lean in closer to her. Until she killed my dad, she was a good mum, so I'm going to give her one chance.

"You killed my dad, I will keep it a secret if you keep away from me." I whisper, then I step back and carry on walking as the cameras still flash at me. I look back and see her wipe a tear away from her eye. She lost my trust and love when she killed my dad.

"Do you want me to help you sort out your new house?" Jess asks me.

"Thanks." I smile, and she takes my arm and we push through the cameras and start walking to the victors' village. Only President Trusta's cameras for the official hunger games channel are following us now. The ones for news channels aren't allowed past the station.

"What was it like, being in the games?" Jess asked.

"Terrifying. I was never safe. I was almost always exhausted and in need of something or other." I say. We reach the victors' village. The houses here are huge and really well made. Layla shows me which one is mine and we go inside. Now the camera crew are gone I decide to ask her straight out. "Jess, why are you being so nice to me? Were you told to make it seem like we were closer than we are?"

"I've always liked you, Bea. We got on quite well when we were younger, but then one day you just became distant. You just drifted away."

"Oh." It must have been when I left home. "I think we should hang out sometime."

"I'd like that." She smiles. We walk into the kitchen. We gape as we look around. It is fitted with pretty new technology. It's not as fancy as in the Capitol, but it's a lot better than the rest of District 7. It's fitted with luxuries I've never had, even when I lived at home. There's a fridge, freezer, dishwasher, oven, hob and even a coffee machine.

"Fancy a coffee?"

"I've never had one." She says, looking slightly embarrassed.

"The first time I had one was at the Capitol." I smile, putting one of the sachet things into it. "It's amazing though." I put a mug beneath it and press the button. Warm delicious smelling coffee starts pouring into it. I hand it to Jess and she takes a huge sip.

"It's so good." She grins and we both laugh.

The next day

I sleep in late and come downstairs for a cup of coffee mid-morning. I find a letter on my doorstep. I slump on my sofa and rip the envelope open.

 _My darling Bea,_

 _I'm sorry that you wouldn't talk to me at the station, but please hear me out._

It's from my mum. I'm tempted to chuck it in the fireplace, but something tells me to give her a chance.

 _It broke my heart when you ran away. You looked through the door at the worst possible time. I'm not going to deny what I did. I kill your dad Bea, and maybe you'll never be able to forgive me for that, but it's okay._

You kill my dad, mum. I was happy. I can never talk to you again.

 _Yes I killed your dad that day, but I didn't just do it for no reason. I would never do that to you Bea. Your dad, Max, was threatening me. He had got drunk._

He never drank. Neither of my parents drank. They thought it was a waste of money. They wanted to save it so I would never have to take tesserae.

 _It wasn't the first time. I didn't know what to do. He was going to kill you Bea. I grabbed a knife to try to stop him. I never meant to use it though. It was only to try and make him stop. He wouldn't though. He was unstable on his feet though, from the alcohol and tripped. You must have come in and from where you were standing it probably looked like I deliberately stabbed him. I didn't mean to kill him._

It seems like a big coincidence. He never drunk before and why would she have a knife in her room. But for some reason I believe her. I don't know why, but I do. I decide to write a note to her telling her to come to my house this afternoon.

 _I don't know if I can forgive you. I want to talk, if you want to talk come to my house after lunch._

 _~Bea_

I can't sit still for the rest of the morning. I'm just a bundle of nerves. I try sitting and watching the TV, but I can't concentrate, and the only stuff that is on is stuff to do with the games, which I don't particularly want to watch.

I wander around the house in my bubble of solitude. When I reach the kitchen for the fifth time, I decide to cook something for dinner for me and mum. I walk to the butchers and buy a selection of chicken wings and chicken legs. I'm going to try a dish I loved in the Capitol. I then buy some herbs off a couple of different people at the market. Next I spend some time looking for some decent tomatoes. Tomatoes are pretty expensive in 7, but now I've won the games I won't have to worry about that again. I find some nice, big, juicy ones and hand over an extortionate amount of money for them. I grab some pasta and head back home. Everything else I need, I saw in the kitchen.

I start by chopping the tomatoes and adding loads of herbs to them and start to heat it up. I add a chili to spice it up and make a kind of salsa. I drain it for lumps of tomatoes so it's just the flavour that's there and roll the chicken legs in it. I'll put them in the oven later. Then I take the BBQ sauce from a cupboard and glaze the chicken wings with it. While I was doing this, the pasta was cooking. I take it off and put it in the fridge to cool while I prepare the stuff to go in it. I chop up a couple of peppers and onions and open a tin of sweetcorn. I add some mayonnaise to the pasta and then mix in the veg to make a pasta salad. It tastes pretty good. I think I'll make a coleslaw to go with it though.

I'm just finishing it when the doorbell goes. Is it that time already? I haven't even had lunch.

"Hi." I say, opening the door.

"Bea, I'm so glad you read my letter." Mum says. Now I look at her properly I see that she looks very pale and thin.

"Are you eating okay?" If I'm going to let her back into my life, I don't want her dying of starvation.

"It's been difficult, these past few weeks. With you in the games. I haven't been working. I was watching you every second."

"Oh, mum." I take her into the kitchen and go to the small snack machine that is installed. In the Capitol they have huge ones that produce 6 course meals, this one only produces small meals, but it's quick and easy. I press the option for two portions of beef noodles and two large pots pop out. It smells amazing, the sauce is mouth-watering. I hand her one and a spoon.

"Thank you." She says as I go to the fridge.

"Juice?" When I lived with her we could only afford juice on special occasions, but I have five or six cartons in the cupboard here.

"You have juice?" She asks in disbelief.

"They really meant it when they said I would live in a life of luxury." I reply. "What flavour?" I look at the cartons in the fridge. "There's cranberry, orange, apple, mango and passionfruit or…" I turn the carton around so I can read it and my mum bursts out laughing.

"This is ridiculous. People are starving in every district and because you survived a fight to the death you can have twenty different types of juice."

"Tropical fruit." I nod in agreement.

"Mango and passionfruit." She says. I take the carton out.

"Would you like it as a smoothie, cooler or just normal with ice?" I ask, I have a machine that does that for me now. It's so weird living in such luxury.

"What's a cooler?" Mum asks. Of course, I only know what they are because of the games. It's pretty hot today so she'll need one.

"I'll give you one of those then." I pull two glasses out and pour both of us a glass of juice. I put hers in the machine first and set it to cooler. I pull it out a minute later and most of the juice is now crushed up ice. I hand her it with a straw and she takes a sip and grins.

"I love you Bea." Maybe life can go back to how it was. Before the games. Before dad died. Maybe it can go back to how it was when I was little. Only we can afford to live in luxury. Maybe being reaped turned out for the better. I survived and I've got my mum back now. Maybe it will all turn out okay after all.

 **The end.**

 **I hope you've enjoyed thank you to everyone who has stuck with me to the end and I hope you've enjoyed it, please let me know what you think.**


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